


I Trust You

by dorkyassassins



Series: Forever Family [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Don't yell at me, Kid Fic, Kid Skye | Daisy Johnson, angsty fluff ??, give this child a hug pls, i wrote these while she was still Skye and not Daisy, kid skye is too cute, mostly fluff but also a little bit of angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-03-26 06:30:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 36,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13852029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dorkyassassins/pseuds/dorkyassassins
Summary: A one-shot collection focusing on Skye and her family from You Can Trust Me.





	1. Five Times Skye Uses Her Cuteness

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Five times (or more) Skye uses her cuteness to stop the fighting or gets her way.

Within the first few weeks that Skye had come to stay with them, Natasha had noticed that the little girl had a certain way of getting what she wanted. She didn’t even know if Skye knew that she had an odd superpower of getting people to see her way. Natasha wouldn't say that she was _manipulative_ … she would say that Skye just used her cuteness to her advantage, and there was nothing wrong with that. It was sneaky and underhanded but so freaking adorable that Natasha couldn't find it in her to be upset about it.

* * *

 

Natasha was in the living room on her laptop enjoying her winter break from school. She was lying on her stomach on the floor with Wanda right next to her. They were perusing the internet while the boys fought behind them on the couch, getting a little to aggressive over who got the remote. She didn't understand why they couldn't just share, apparently that was too difficult of a concept for those two dummies to understand, but it was amusing to watch.

They would play rock, paper, scissors to see who got to watch their own show. One of them would win and the other would accuse him of cheating. That would lead to an argument, and then a rematch, and then the cycle would continue on and on until her mom or dad got tired of it and told them to play nice and share. She and Wanda liked to guess which parent would snap first. It was usually her dad.

Trip and Pietro had been bickering over the remote for a solid fifteen minutes. Pietro wanted to watch some action movie and Trip was arguing against it because Shark Week was on. She didn't know why they couldn’t share and they were starting to get on her nerves.

She continued to stare at her computer screen while periodically giving Wanda knowing looks as they listened to their brothers bicker. She had bet that her mom would be the first to crack this time while Wanda had said that it would be her dad.

Their parents were in the kitchen with Skye. The little girl had seen an episode of Cupcake Wars and had become enamored with the idea of baking cupcakes, especially Frozen-themed cupcakes. Apparently, she had never done that before. They were frosting the delicious treats right now and Nat kept glancing over to them, waiting for an opportunity to strike and steal a treat..

Skye looked very happy from where she sat on the counter, sprinkling blue and white sprinkles over the freshly frosted cupcakes. Her parents didn't seem to be acknowledging her brothers' squabble and while it might not be bothering them, it _was_ starting to grate on her nerves a little bit.

She let out a breath and turned back to her computer. She tried to ignore her brother's stupid fight for the next couple of minutes and just as she was about to turn around and yell at them, Skye came skipping into the room. She had a smudge of blue frosting on her cheek and some in her hair, which was starting to fall out of her pigtails. She had a smile on her face and her eyes were bright, and seeing her so happy make Natasha grin.

She sat up and watched as Skye wandered over to the couch, which was occupied by her annoying brothers.

"What are you watching?" Skey asked.

Pietro shoved Trip, "I want to watch Bourne."

Trip pushed him back and rolled his eyes, "Bourne is lame, man. Besides, we've seen it like eight hundred times!"

"Yeah, because watching sharks swim around is _so_ much more interesting!"

Trip was about to reply when Skye spoke up, "We can watch Frozen!"

Both boys paused and looked at each other with poorly concealed looks of pain on their faces and Nat knew why. They had all watched Frozen _way_ to many times in the past couple of weeks. She knew all the words to the songs in addition to most of the lines in the movie, which was something she never thought she would say. She didn't know how Skye could watch it over and over again without growing tired of it.

Trip rubbed the back of his neck, "Actually Skye, I don't think-"

Skye interrupted him, "Please! Please, please, please!"

She grabbed onto his arm and tugged pitifully on it. Nat watched as she widened her eyes, stuck out her bottom lip, and leaned in close to him. Her little sister had the ability to look like a sad, little puppy and she was using it to her full advantage.

Trip stared at Skye for a moment before sighing, turning to Pietro, and muttering, "I mean, I guess Frozen isn't _too_ bad."

Pietro jerked his head over to look at Trip, "What? Skye, I don't think I can sit through that movie again. Have you ever seen Bourne? It's a classic and…"

He trailed off as Skye turned her puppy eyes onto him. She climbed onto the couch and put her arms around his neck before she set her head on his shoulder and gave him a tight hug. Nat looked over to Wanda to see if she was watching this and she was happy to note that she was with a proud smirk on her face.

Nat turned back to her laptop and heard Skye say, "Please Pietro? I love watching Frozen with you. You can do the same voice that Kristoff does when he pretends to talk for Sven! It's so cool. "

She heard him sigh before getting up to put the DVD in as Skye sat back against the couch with a smile on her face. Nat couldn't help but laugh, and as she leaned into Wanda's side, she gave Skye a thumbs-up.

Wanda whispered, "Sucker," under her breath and Pietro threw her a dirty look but continued to set up the DVD.

* * *

 Natasha was in the playroom with Skye and her two little chatty friends. She had opted to chaperone while her mom went downstairs and made lunch for everyone. Everything was going great, the little ones were playing with Jemma's chemistry set and she was casually watching t.v. while simultaneously keeping an eye on the little rugrats.

Jemma and Fitz looked like they knew what they were doing with the chemistry set while Skye was content to sit back and watch them. It all started to go downhill when Fitz suggested they divert from the directions and try to complete the miniature volcano by themselves. Jemma was fully against that idea, as expected, and was passionately saying, "Fitz! We can't do that! It says we need to follow the instructions!"

Fitz sighed deeply, "Come on Simmons! You always have to follow the directions! It's boring!"

"Are you saying that I'm boring?"

Fitz looked over to Skye but her sister just shrugged and held up her hands. He wasn't going to find help there. He turned back to Jemma, "What? No, I didn't say that! I just meant-"

Jemma interrupted him, "The only way we can do it right is to follow what the directions say!"

She watched as Skye sighed and scooted forward so that she was between her two friends, "Guys, come on! Stop fighting!"

"Tell him I'm right Skye!"

"No Skye, tell her _I'm_ right!"

Skye looked between the two, "You're both kind of right. Sometimes it's better to go by the instructions and sometimes it's better to do your own thing." Skye paused and smiled at both her friends, "Besides, it stopped raining. Let's go play outside!"

Jemma and Fitz both looked at their half-finished volcano before standing up and following her little sister out of the room with smiles on their faces. They seemed to have already forgotten about their fight and Natasha shook her head and laughed under her breath before following after them.

* * *

 

After dinner one night, she pulled Skye aside and whispered to her, "Skye, do you want ice cream?"

She watched the little girl's eyes light up as she jumped up and down on her toes, "Yes! I love ice cream!"

Natasha leaned in close and whispered, "You should ask dad if we can all go and get some."

"Why can't you ask too?" Skye questioned, scrunching her nose up in the adorable way that signaled that she was confused.

"Well, because you're so good at it!"

Skye nodded and ran off to her dad after Nat gently pushed her in his direction. She followed after her and watched as Skye tugged on his arm, jumped up and down, and made grabby hands until their dad picked her up and held her so that they were face to face, "What's up sweetheart?"

"Can we go get ice cream?" Skye asked, wrapping her arms around his neck.

She watched her dad look over to her mom, "I don't think you should be having ice cream so close to bedtime."

Skye stuck out her bottom lip and tilted her head, "Please? I haven't had ice cream in a really long time."

Her dad looked like he was going to say no again and this was when the real magic happened. Skye widened her eyes and leaned in to kiss her dad's cheek, "Please Daddy? Don't you love me?"

Nat raised an eyebrow, surprised and impressed with the Skye’s tactic. There was no way her dad would be able to stand up to that.

She watched as Skye broke her father down. He shook his head and leaned forward to kiss Skye's forehead, "Of course I do Skye, you know that."

"I love you too. More than I love ice cream. It's okay if we don't go."

Her dad had a pained expression on his face, and she watched as he looked over to her mom for help. Her mom shook her head no but her dad just let out a breath and said, "Let's go get some ice cream. But you have to go to bed when we get back."

Skye nodded eagerly and her family rushed past her to put their shoes on and pile into the car. Skye was still in her dad's arms and as she passed, Nat held out her hand for a high-five. Skye clapped her little hand against hers and smiled real big at her. She knew that she should feel guilty for using her sister’s cuteness to get what she wanted, but she couldn't find it in herself to feel bad with ice cream in her near future.

* * *

 

Nat knew that her sister was powerful, but she didn't know how powerful she was until they were in the grocery store with their mom and they were standing in front of the bakery section. Her mom was standing to the side, ordering different sandwich meats, while she and Skye were admiring the baked goods.

"Nattie! That looks so yummy! I wish I had a cookie like that!" Skye exclaimed, pointing to the sprinkle-covered sugar cookies sitting in the glass display case.

Natasha wrapped an arm around Skye's shoulder in an attempt to get the little girl to stop hopping up and down.

It didn't work.

Skye kept commenting on the delicious looking cookies until a nice looking lady in an employee uniform walked up to the counter. She was older, mid-fifties, and had a smile on her face. She leaned over the counter and looked at the two of them, "Hello ladies, how are you today?"

Finally, Skye stopped hopping, straightened up, and took a step back so that she was pressed up against Nat's side. She still didn't like talking to strangers that much and Nat couldn't fault her for that.

Comfortingly, she patted her sister’s shoulder and said, "We're alright, just looking at all the delicious treats."

Skye nodded enthusiastically and apparently forgot about her shyness, "Yeah, your cookies look really yummy. Are you a famous chef?"

She watched the older lady blush a little and laugh off the compliment, "Aren't you a kind little girl! I wish I was a famous chef! My grandkids think that my cookies are pretty good though."

Skye leaned in close to the display, pressed her forehead against the glass, and stared at the cookies, "They look really good. I bet they taste awesome and you could win on one of those baking competitions! Like Cupcake Wars! But for cookies."

The older lady looked left and right before bending down and taking one out of the display. She held it over the counter and offered it to Skye, "Here you go sugar."

Skye stared at it and hesitated, and Nat wondered what she was waiting for. Skye reached out but didn't take the cookie, "Are you sure? I didn't pay for it."

The lady shook her head, "It's alright dear, I'll take care of it. Here." The lady wiggled the cookie and she watched Skye take it and smile.

She took a big bite and spoke with her mouth full, "Thank you!"

The lady smiled and stood up straight, "No problem sugar, you remind me of my granddaughter."

Skye waved goodbye and they made their way back over to their mom. The little girl split the cookie in half and gave part of it to Natasha. She just shook her head in disbelief and took the cookie half from the little girl.

* * *

 

Natasha stared in astonishment as Skye talked her mom into taking her to the movie theater. Her mom barely _ever_ changed her mind and Nat distinctly remembered her telling Skye that they weren't going to the movies today.

Skye was sitting on her mom's lap. She was facing her and had her little legs wrapped around her mom's waist and her arms around her neck. "Please Mommy, I _love_ the movies."

Her mom shook her head, "I'm sorry Skye but I just wanted to stay around the home and chill today. Work was terrible yesterday."

She watched as her little sister widened her eyes, "We can chill at the movies Mommy. Please? I love it when you take me to the movies. We get to spend time together."

Leaning in, Skye put her head on her mom's shoulder, and she watched as her mom had a very obvious inner debate with herself. There was no way that this would work, there was _no_ way… her mom nodded her head, "Okay, let's go see if anyone else wants to go."

She could not believe that that had worked. She saw Skye sit back and kiss their mom on the cheek before hopping off of her lap and making her way over to her. Skye grabbed her hand and tugged, "Do you want to go to the movies Nattie?"

Nat mumbled, "You have _got_ to be kidding me," under her breath before gripping Skye's hand and going to see if anyone else wanted to go.


	2. Skye Gets Appendicitis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Skye gets appendicitis

Skye grinned and set her spoon down, feeling uncomfortably full on sugary goodness. Her parents had given everyone ice cream and they were all sitting down for Family Movie Night. Unfortunately, her suggestion of Tangled had been vetoed, so now they were all scattered around the living room watching Balto. She was snuggled between her mom and Nattie on the couch and she leaned forward to set her empty bowl on the coffee table in front of her.

She leaned back and continued to watch the movie and occasionally turned to Nattie to comment on something that happened on screen. She felt sad that Jenna's owner, Rosie, was sick but she knew that Balto could help her get the medicine she needed to get better.

About halfway through the movie, her tummy started to hurt right around her belly-button.

She shifted, put her hand over her stomach, and started to gently rub it, hoping that would help.

After a few long minutes, she was unhappy to find out that it didn't.

She turned to her mom and tugged on her sleeve, "Mommy, my tummy hurts."

"You probably ate too much ice cream baby,” Her mom said, making a sympathetic noise and pushing her hair out of her eyes.

Skye nodded, she  _ had _ eaten all of her ice cream very quickly. Her mom wrapped an arm around her and she leaned into her side, sighing contentedly when her mom brushed her hand away from her tummy and started to rub comforting circles. It didn't really help her belly ache go away but it felt nice.

She ignored her aching stomach and tried to focus on the movie instead. If she stared at the television really hard and focused on the characters, she could ignore the constant pain in her tummy.

They finished the movie and her dad announced that it was her bedtime. She sighed, a little upset that she was always going to sleep way before everyone else, and went to stand up.

As soon as she was on her feet, she winced and sucked in a pained breath, "Ow!"

Her mom stood up beside her and gave her a concerned look as her dad came over and knelt down in front of her, "What's wrong sweetheart?"

When she moved, her tummy felt worse. She made sure to stay still but couldn't stop the tears from welling up in her eyes. It  _ hurt  _ and the dull ache didn’t seem like it was going to go away any time soon _. _

"My tummy hurts,” She sniffled.

"Still?" Her mom asked, putting a warm hand on her shoulder.

Skye nodded and watched as her dad stood up and disappeared into the kitchen. Her mom brushed her bangs out of her eyes as her dad walked back into the living room with a glass in his hand. 

"Why don't you sip some ginger ale? It'll help settle your tummy,” He said, carefully handing her the glass.

Hoping that he was right, she took the glass from him and sipped on her ginger ale. Her siblings wandered over to her and Trip patted her head, "I hope you feel better kiddo."

She nodded and let Nattie reach forward and caress her cheek, "Tummy aches suck, don't they?"

Skye nodded again and handed her dad her half-empty glass of ginger ale. He took it and set it on the coffee table before motioning her forward, "Let's go to bed sweetheart. Mommy and I will read you a story."

Grabbing onto his hand, she followed him upstairs even though every step resulted in a sharp pain from her belly. They walked into her room and her dad picked her up and set her on her bed while her mom walked over to her bookshelf and chose a story for them to read. She tried to get settled against her pillows but couldn't get comfy. Ever so slowly, she rolled over onto her side and protectively curled into herself. That helped to ease some of the pain in her stomach and she gratefully took Alice from her dad when he offered the doll to her.

Her parents sat down beside her on her bed and her mom smiled at her, "I’ve got Goodnight Moon, your favorite. You comfy?"

Nodding, she cuddled close to Alice as she listened to May read her Goodnight Moon. When her mom finished, her dad read her Stella Luna and after that, they both took turns reading When You Give A Moose A Muffin. It was becoming increasingly obvious that she was having a very hard time falling asleep. She felt really uncomfortable and her tummy ache wouldn't let her relax.

Her mom finished their third story and set it on her bedside table, "Alright little girl, it's bedtime. Go to sleep baby."

"I'm not tired,” She mumbled grumpily.

Her dad leaned in and kissed her forehead, "Close your eyes and try. Goodnight sweetheart."

Her mom brushed her bangs out of her eyes and leaned in to kiss her cheek, "Sweet dreams."

They turned on her night light, shut her lights off, and shut the door halfway. She curled into a tight ball and shut her eyes like her dad said. 

After taking a deep breath, which only made the ache in her stomach worse, she tried to go to sleep.

She didn't know how long it took for her to finally drift off but finally, she felt herself relax and fall into unconsciousness.

* * *

 

It wasn’t long before Skye woke up to a sharp stab in her tummy, which had moved from her belly button to the lower right side of her belly and it was worse than it was before. It had gone from a dull ache to a sharp and intense pain that just wouldn’t go away. She told herself that she was never eating ice cream ever again if this is what was going happen afterwards.

It was super warm and there was sweat collecting on her forehead. She moved to get out of bed and go to her parents but moving made her pain ten times worse. Her breath caught and she felt tears start to trickle down her cheeks. 

It hurt really badly and she needed her mom and dad.

She took a deep breath and managed to yell out, "Mommy! Daddy!"

She hoped they heard her and couldn't stop a sob from escaping her. She put her hand over her belly and tried to tell it to stop hurting. It didn't work very well.

After a second or two of silence, she made her voice louder and yelled, "Mommy! Daddy! Please!"

Not sure what was going on or why she was in so much pain, she started crying harder and sighed in relief when she heard footsteps running towards her bedroom. Suddenly her door was jerked open and her lights came on. She blinked as the brightness momentarily blinded her and when her eyes adjusted, she saw her parents leaning over her with concerned looks on their faces. Her mom reached forward and brushed some of her tears away, "What's wrong baby?"

"My tummy hurts r-really bad,” She managed to stutter out, squeezing her hand into a tight fist as another wave of pain overcame her.

"Can you point to where it hurts?" Her dad asked.

She sniffled and pointed to the lower right side of her belly.

"Her appendix,” He said, and the worried look he gave her mom made her start to feel nervous that something might be really wrong. 

She didn’t know what an appendix was and she was about to ask her dad when he gently laid a hand over the lower right side of her tummy and she cried out in pain. Quickly, she shoved his hand away, "No! That hurts! Daddy, why did you do that?"

"I'm sorry sweetheart, I was just checking to see if I was right,” He apologized, leaning down to kiss her forehead. Then her turned to her mom, “We need to go to the hospital.”

She shook her head for a moment and then stopped when it made her feel worse, "No, it hurts worse when I move."

"Can you go wake up Trip and Nat? We need to go to the hospital,” He said, and her mom nodded and rushed out of her room.

The fact that she was going to have to move, even though she  _ knew _ it would hurt her, made her start to cry even harder, "I don't wanna go!"

He made a sympathetic sound, "I know sweetheart, I know. But we need to go to the hospital, it'll help make you feel better."

Skye whimpered as a sharp pain overtook her and cool hands brushed over her forehead before her dad whispered, "I'm sorry Skye." Before she could register what he was doing she was suddenly cradled close to his chest. She cried out in pain and grabbed onto his shirt tightly.

No matter how hard she tried to ignore the pain in her belly as her dad carried her downstairs to the car, it didn’t help. It felt like she was being stabbed with a super hot knife and all she wanted was for it to go away. Her mom opened up the backdoor and her dad maneuvered himself into the backseat before settling her in his lap. She whimpered and heard him apologize profusely before the car started moving.

She shut her eyes, pressed her face against her dad's chest, and focused on breathing deeply. She vaguely heard voices talking around her but she ignored them and told herself that she was fine, her tummy didn't hurt, and she was just going on a drive with her family. Even though she tried her hardest to trick herself, it didn’t work. 

When the car stopped, Skye didn't look up to see where they were, she just braced herself because she knew that her dad would be moving her. She tightened her hold on his shirt as he got out of the car, "I'm sorry sweetheart, I'm sorry."

He sounded so guilty and Skye hated hearing his voice sound like that, so she shook her head and tried to appear to be in less pain, "It's okay Daddy."

She looked up as they walked into a building but it was bright and she had to squint her eyes as she took in her surroundings. She was obviously in a hospital, the walls were white and she could smell disinfectant, and she stayed quiet and her family made their way up to the front desk. The nurse at the front desk was staring intensely at her computer and looked up when she heard them. 

Her dad stopped in front of the desk, "My daughter had appendicitis."

The nurse stood up and walked around the desk to them, "How do you know that?"

He let out an exasperated breath, "I’m a pediatric doctor and she’s exhibting classic symptoms of appendicitis. We need help right now."

The nurse nodded and rushed down the hallway, "One minute, you can set her on that stretcher over there."

Her dad thanked her and walked over to the bed before gently setting her down. Once she was lying down, her family surrounded her and Nattie reached forward and brushed her tears away, "It'll be okay маленькая звезда."

She nodded and hoped that her sister was right. The bed dipped down beside her and she looked over to see her mom slowly lowering herself down next to her. She turned onto her side even though it hurt and snuggled close before whispering, "My tummy hurts Mommy."

“I know baby, the doctor will help you,” Her mom cooed, running her fingers through her slightly sweaty hear and pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

They sat in silence for a little while before she heard footsteps coming towards them. She stayed pressed against her mom and heard a female voice say, "Is this the little girl with appendicitis?"

"Her name's Skye and yes,” Her dad answered.

"Let's move to an exam room."

Her bed started moving and she looked up to see her dad pushing them forward until they rolled into a room. After taking a deep breath, she slightly pulled away from her mom and saw a nice looking doctor smiling at her. The doctor had on light blue scrubs and her dark blonde hair was pulled up into a ponytail. In Skye’s opinion, she looked a little too cheerful considering the situation. The doctor looked over to Nattie and Trip, "Can you guys go hang out in the waiting room while I check Skye over? It's a little crowded in here."

Her siblings looked over to her parents and when they nodded at them, Nattie and Trip both exited the room.

The familiar actionf of her mom running her fingers through her hair comforted her as the doctor walked up to her and smiled, "Hey Skye, I'm Sara. What seems to be the problem?"

Skye sniffled, tucked her face close to her mom's chest, and said, "My belly hurts."

It came out kind of muffled but Sara seemed to understand her, "Where does it hurt?"

She pointed to where she had earlier and Sara nodded before stepping closer to her, "I'm going to check you over okay?"

After nodding reluctantly, she let her mom gently push her away so that she was lying on her back. Sara put a thermometer in her mouth and shone a light in her eyes. The thermometer beeped and Sara glanced at it before clucking her tongue, "Elevated temperature." She scribbled something onto her clipboard before saying, "Tell me if this hurts alright?"

Skye nodded again and felt Sara press her hands against the top of her belly. When she shook her head, Sara moved her hands down a little and pressed against her stomach. She shook her head again and then cried out when Sara's hand pressed against the right side of her tummy. Sara quickly took her hands away and walked over to the counter before grabbing something and calling a nurse in.

A nice looking man wearing scrubs with puppies on them walked in and smiled at them. Sara looked over to him, "I'm going to need to draw blood."

Skye flinched when she heard that, "No!"

"They have to sweetheart, it'll only sting for a little bit,” Her dad tried to reason with her. 

"No! I don't want to!"

Her mom gently placed her hands on each side of Skye’s face and made her focus on her, "Skye, they need to take your blood so that they know what's going on to help you feel better. It'll be okay baby. You can be brave, I know you can."

Skye kept her eyes on her mom before reluctantly nodding. She didn't look over to see what was happening and she didn't listen when Sara talked to her, she just felt a sharp sting in her arm and forced herself not to cry because she could be brave. She  _ could. _

Once it was over, she wrapped her arms around her mom’s neck and blocked out the voices around her. She shut her eyes and pretended she was somewhere else, maybe on the playground with Jemma and Fitz or playing soccer with Trip and Nattie, and not in the hospital.

Her tummy still hurt and after a couple of minutes, her mom gently tapped her shoulder until she looked up. She heard Sara say, "They're testing the blood right now to see if there is an elevated white blood cell count to see if she's fighting off an infection. I'd like to do an ultrasound just to rule out gallbladder issues, bladder infection, UTI, or gastritis, and confirm if her appendix is swollen."

"Yes, of course,” Her dad nodded, seemingly in his element now that progress was being made. 

Sara nodded and walked out of the room only to come back a couple minutes later with a machine rolling behind her. She set it up next to the bed and pushed a couple of buttons before grabbing a bottle and looking at her, "Can you lift your shirt up a little bit Skye?"

Obeying, she lifted her shirt before Sara said, "This might be a little cold."

Sara put some gel on her tummy and Skye hissed because it  _ was _ cold. Sara gently pressed a stick-thingy against her tummy and looked up at the screen attached to the machine. Everything looked blurry and indistinguishable on the monitor and Skye had no idea what she was looking at.

"Her appendix is inflamed. I'll check her blood test results but I'm confident that it's appendicitis."

There was that word again. She still had no idea what it meant.

"When will her surgery be?" Her dad asked.

"I'll have to give her some antibiotics and we'll set up a surgical room. I'm slightly concerned about her pain levels and don't want her appendix to rupture so her surgery will be soon. When did she last eat or drink?"

It felt like her world was turning upside down. She didn’t know what was going on and no one was explaining anything to her.

"Wait! What's happening?" She yelled in fear, holding up her hands in an attempt to get the adults around her to stop talking. 

Sara looked over to her and moved closer to the bed, "I'm sorry Skye, this must be confusing. There's a little finger-shaped pouch connected to your large intestine called your appendix. It doesn't do anything, it actually serves no purpose, but right now it's all swollen and angry. We need to take it out before it gets worse."

Skye processed that information before scrunching up her nose, "I don't need it?"

"No, you'll be okay with it gone,” Sara assured her.

"If I don't need it, why is it hurting me? That's dumb!"

Her dad breathed out a laugh and her mom pressed a kiss to the top of her head. The tension and worry in the room seemed to diminish slightly. 

Sara smiled at her, "It is kind of dumb, isn't it? We're going to operate on you and take it out okay? You'll feel much better when it's gone."

Skye winced as another sharp pain in her tummy assaulted her but managed to say, "What do you mean? Operate?"

Her dad walked up to her and sat down on the side of the bed, "You'll have to go into surgery sweetheart."

That didn't sound very fun. She bit the inside of her cheek, "Will it hurt?"

"No, they'll give you anesthetic, which is something that will make you go to sleep so you won't feel anything. It'll be okay."

He sounded confident and sure of himself so Skye nodded and cuddled back up against her mom, "Okay."

* * *

 

Skye didn't know how long they waited until she was rolled into a prep room. They had made her change out of her pajamas and into a funny looking hospital gown that was too big and fit her funny. Sara had come back into her room and given her antibiotics, which Skye had obediently taken before closing her eyes and trying to ignore the pain in her tummy enough to fall back asleep.

It must have work because she woke up to her mom's gentle voice. She looked around and Sara was standing in the room as well as the nice looking nurse from before. Her family was surrounding her and her mom got out of the bed but kept a hold on her hand, "We're going to move into the prep room and Sara will give you your anesthesia. When you wake up, you'll feel much better baby."

Skye really wanted the pain in her belly to go away but she was afraid. She tightened her grip on her mom's hand and felt her bed start to move, "I'm scared Mommy."

As her mom reached down to push her bangs out of her eyes, her dad grabbed her other hand and comfortingly said, "You're going to be fine sweetheart, I promise." 

Her dad’s reassuring words helped and she started to feel a little better because her parents  _ never _ broke their promises.

They stopped moving and Skye looked around at the new room. Sara was walking towards her and there was a man sitting next to her holding a mask. 

"We're going to put this over your mouth and nose okay? You'll still be able to breathe so don't worry, just breathe in deeply,” Sara instructed.

Even though she didn’t want him to, she let the man place the mask over her mouth and nose. It felt weird on her face and she didn't really like it but she did as she was told and breathed deeply. 

"Can you count back from one hundred?" Sara asked.

Skye's eyelids fluttered and she started to feel sleepy. Her parent’s tightened their hold on her hands and she mumbled, "one hundred, ninety-nine, ninety-eight…"

That was as far as she got before she fell asleep.

* * *

 

When she woke up, her mouth was dry and tasted funny, her eyes felt heavy, and she was sore. Someone was squeezing her hand, so she turned her head to look at who it was. She was happy to find that it was her mom, and when she looked around her room, she saw her dad walking towards her. Nattie and Trip were sleeping on two chairs by the window and Skye could see that it was bright outside, so she figured that it must be the middle of the day.

She tried to say something but her voice cracked and her throat was really dry, so her mom leaned forward and poured water out of a pitcher and into a cup before handing it to her. She gratefully took a sip before trying again, "My tummy doesn't hurt anymore."

The sharp pain in her belly was gone and was replaced by a dull soreness. She was relieved to find that her parents were right like they always were and she was fine.

Her parents both smiled at her and her dad chuckled, "That's great sweetheart. How do you feel?"

Skye repositioned herself and her mom reached forward to put a pillow behind her upper back so that she could sit up a little bit, "Thanks. I feel sore."

"It's normal to feel sore after surgery. You have a couple more hours before you can get up and walk around though."

Skye didn't mind. She just wanted to lie down next to her mom and dad and watch Spongebob on the t.v. in her room. When she motioned for them to come closer,  they both carefully sat on each side of her bed. Her dad laid down next to her and she snuggled close to him as her mom stayed seated but kept her hold on her hand.

They stayed in comfortable silence for a little while until her door opened up and Sara walked in. When she saw that Skye was awake, she smiled, "How're you feeling?"

"I'm okay."

Sara nodded and stopped at the end of her bed, "That's great to hear. You have about seven more hours until you can get up and walk around and you'll have to stay overnight at the hospital for a day or two, but you should be fine. You were very brave."

Skye smiled, blushed at the praise she was receiving, and pushed herself closer to her dad before nodding.

Sara leaned forward and patted Skye's shin before saying, "Alright, well I prescribe a lot of jello and ice cream while you recover. Lots of t.v., stories, and hugs."

"I have school tomorrow though,” She said halfheartedly, really liking the idea of the doctor’s orders. 

Sara crossed her arms, "Sorry but no school this week."

She couldn't help but smile real big. No school, ice cream, and hugs? Maybe this wasn't so bad.


	3. Skye Gets Appendicitis Pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of Skye Gets Appendicitis

Staying in the hospital wasn't nearly as fun as she thought it would be.

She had a couple more hours until she could go home and the last two days had been super boring. She had to stay in bed a lot and the t.v. wasn't playing any good shows so she was stuck watching boring grown-up shows that were super dramatic. Most of her toys were at home and when her dad had gone back there to get everyone clean clothes, he had brought back Alice, Mara, and some coloring supplies but it wasn't the same. 

Going home was the only thing she wanted at this point.

Her tummy was still a little sore and she had a bandage covering part of it. Her dad said that she was going to have a tiny little scar from her surgery and she was kind of mad about that. She wasn't a huge fan of scars.

The first night in the hospital had been alright. She had alternated between cuddling with each of her family members and they had all watched t.v. and told each other funny stories. Her parents had let her stay up past her bedtime and she had happily fallen asleep a whole hour later than she usually did.

The bed that she had to sleep in wasn't very comfy but she ended up sleeping almost on top of her dad so it hadn’t been too bad. The nurses brought her a lot of Jello, ice cream, and apple slices, so that wasn't bad either.

It had started to get boring on the second day. Nattie and Trip had to go to school and her dad had to go to work so it was just her and her mom, who had tried to make the day less boring but there was only so much that she could do. Skye resigned herself to watching melodramatic soap operas as the day dragged on. She would actually rather be in school right now.

It got better when Nattie and Trip came back and brought some of their friends. She had been lying down on her uncomfortable bed, watching television with her mom sitting in one of the chairs going over some paper for work, when they walked in. 

She immediately sat up and smiled happily.

"Hey Princess! I heard you had a fight with your appendix and won so I thought you deserved a congratulatory teddy bear." Clint smiled at her and waved around a soft looking teddy bear that was wearing a doctor's uniform. He walked up to her bed and sat down and Skye watched everyone else file into her room after him.

Trip and Nattie waved at her and went to set their bags down over by their mom as Bobbi, Hunter and Bucky walked in behind them and all stood around her bed. She  _ loved _ her siblings’ friends and was happy that they were here to make her day a little less boring.

She smiled and turned her attention back to Clint, who was waving the teddy bear at her. Eagerly, she took it from him and pushed her face against its soft fur. She already loved it and she pulled the bear close to her chest and grinned, "Thanks Clint. He's so cute!"

She scooted over a little bit so that Bobbi could sit on one side of her while Nattie sat on the other side. Bucky and Clint sat by her feet and Trip and Hunter dragged chairs over to the side of her bed. She felt happy and relaxed with everyone surrounding her.

Bobbi wrapped an arm around her shoulder and Skye leaned into her, "I had to get my appendix taken out too. It wasn't very fun, was it?"

Skye shook her head and Bobbi and Bucky both made sympathetic noises.

Hunter caught her attention, "At least you don't have to go to school, right? That sounds fun."

"I'm soooo bored I would rather be at school right now,” She said, shaking her head and sighing dramatically. 

Clint gasped, "You'd rather be at school?!"

Hunter shook his head, "We'll just have to fix that now won't we?"

Skye giggled and nodded.

They all took turns telling her funny stories and making up stories about princesses from faraway lands. They told her about what was going on at their school and Clint told a bunch of jokes that she thought was funny but no one else did. Staying at the hospital was way more fun with everyone here with her.

After an hour or two, Clint, Hunter, Trip, and Natasha all left to find the food court. Her mom excused herself to go call her dad in the hallway so Skye was left with Bobbi and Bucky.

She was sitting cross-legged up against the back of her bed with Bobbi right next to her. Bucky was sitting in the middle of her bed facing them. It was quiet for a little bit and Skye had noticed that Bucky had been pretty silent since they had gotten here. She watched his eyes roam around the room nervously and saw him subtly flinch when the nurses would quickly walk past the door.

“Are you okay?" She softly asked him, trying not to startle him.

Bucky looked back to her and smiled and she thought that it looked a little forced, "I'm fine. How are _ you _ feeling?"

"I'm okay... Why do you look so nervous?"

He took a deep breath and ducked his head, "I'm not a huge fan of hospitals."

After pondering it for a moment, she came to the conclusion that hospitals were  _ too _ bad. They smelled funny and they were pretty boring but that was as bad as they got.

She was about to say that when she remembered that Bucky had been in a car accident, just like she had. She didn't really remember much about going to the hospital after her accident; she had only had a couple scrapes and bruises and was able to leave fairly quickly, but Bucky had lost an arm. She bet that he had had to spend a lot of time in the hospital and it was no wonder he didn't like it.

She carefully crawled over, making sure to not tug on her stitches, and sat in front of him. She put one hand on his prosthetic arm and her other hand grabbed onto his real arm before she smiled at him, "It's okay, I'll keep you safe."

He breathed out a laugh and grinned at her, "Thank you Skye."

It made her feel happy that he looked a little less troubled and upset, and she quickly wrapped her arms around him in a gentle hug before pulling back and grinning at him, "No problem. I'm happy you're here, I like it when you guys hang out with me."

Gentle fingers combed through her hair and she looked back when Bobbi said, "We like hanging out with you too."

"Yeah, you're like the little sister I never had,” Bucky agreed.

Skye laughed and let Bobbi put her hair into a braid while she played with her dolls and new bear with Bucky.

* * *

 

Recovering from surgery  _ sucked _ . She couldn't go to school or to the playground or do anything that involved running around, so basically she couldn't have any fun.

Actually, when she thought about it with a clear head, only  _ most _ of recovery sucked, some parts were good. The good parts were that either of her parents stayed at home with her for the rest of the school week. They let her eat a lot of ice cream and didn't complain when she wanted to watch Disney movies.

She wasn't ashamed to admit that she liked being the center of her family's attention. She had waited a very long time to have a family that liked taking care of her and she wasn't going to waste the opportunity to put that to the test. The best thing ever was that they were great and doted on her nonstop… but she was sick of doing nothing all day. She was ready to go back to school and see her friends and run around. That's why she was currently tugging on her mom's sleeve and using her whiney voice, "Pleeeaassee? Please Mommy please?"

After taking a deep breath in, her mom sighed heavily and said, "Fine, I'll see if they can come over. But only if you promise not to run around okay?"

Skye nodded eagerly and smiled happily. It was Saturday and she hadn't seen any of her friends since Monday at school. She would be able to go back to school in two days but she  _ really _ missed her friends. That's why she had spent the past ten minutes convincing her mom that it would be okay if Jemma and Fitz came over to play with her. Her mom thought that if her friends came over, she would forget to be careful and end up hurting herself, and she had to admit that that was a possibility but she was determined to make her mom proud.

It was impossible for her to sit still as she watched her mom call her friends’ parents and talked to them. When she hung up, Skye stared expectantly at her, "What'd they say?"

"They said yes and Jemma's mom will bring them over in a couple minutes because they're both over at her house. I mean it Skye, I really need you to be careful."

Skye nodded, reached up, and made grabby hands until her mom lifted her up and carefully held her so that they were face to face, "I promise Mommy."

Her mom gave her a small smile, "Good. I worry about you, sweetie. I don't want you to hurt yourself."

Kind words spoken with love still never ceased to make her smile and make her feel warm. It felt really good to have people who cared about her like her family did. 

Leaning forward a bit, she kissed her mom on the cheek, "I'll be good, I promise."

"I know you will baby. I love you."

Her mom leaned in and rubbed their noses together, causing Skye to giggle softly, "How much?"

"I love you to the moon and back-"

Skye finished for her, like she always did, "More than all the stars in the sky."

Her mom nodded, "Forever."

The doorbell rang and broke their little moment, and Skye perked up eagerly and jerked her head around to stare at the closed door, "They're here!"

They went to the door and Skye tried not to wiggle around even though she was excited so that her mom knew that she was serious about being good. When they opened the door, she saw Jemma's mom, Jemma, and Fitz waiting on the other side of it. She smiled and waved at her friends and they waved back.

Jemma's mom grinned at her, "How're you feeling Skye?"

She tapped on her mom’s shoulder so that she was set down, "I'm okay. I'm not even sore anymore!"

"That's good to hear!" She looked down at Jemma and Fitz, "You guys be good for Melinda okay? I'll come and get you after dinner."

Both of her friends nodded seriously and Jemma hugged her mom before they both moved over to stand next to her. Jemma smiled brightly at her, "Hey Skye! You missed a lot of school."

She grimaced, "I know. I'm gonna have a bunch of homework."

Fitz nodded in sympathy, "We learned about jungle animals and made animal masks in art class! I made a monkey mask!"

"I made a panther mask!"

Skye stomped her foot, "Aw man! That sounds really fun! I wish I was there."

Her friends looked at each other before Jemma shook her head, "Nah, it wasn't that fun."

"Very boring stuff,” Fitz agreed.

She knew that they were lying to make her feel better but she didn't mind. Her mom ushered them inside and they went up to the playroom after her mom asked her to be careful one more time. They sat down on the playroom floor and Skye grabbed the Lego box for them to play with. They started making a Lego building and Fitz glanced at her, "Jemma's mom said you had to have surgery."

"I asked and that means that the doctors cut you open!" Jemma said matter-of-factly.

Skye scrunched her nose up. When Jemma said it like that, it sounded scarier than it really was.

"Yeah, they took out my appendix,” She smiled proudly because it had taken her a long time to remember that word and say it right.

"What the heck is that?" Fitz asked.

"My doctor said it's a finger-shaped pouch that is attached to my large intestine." She repeated what Sara had said to her even though she didn't know what half of it meant.

Jemma raised an eyebrow, "Why did they have to take it out?"

"Because it was hurting really bad."

Fitz held up a hand, "Wait! So they took it  _ out _ of your body? Don't you need it? Are you going to  _ die _ ?!"

"No I'm not going to die! You can live without your appendix."

Fitz threw his hands up in the air in exasperation, "If you can live without your appendix, why do we have one?"

Skye shrugged again, "That's exactly what I said.


	4. Natasha Learns More About Skye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Natasha learns a bit more about Skye's past.

Natasha liked hanging out with her little sister. Skye was easy to talk to and Nat had felt a connection to her since the moment she had come to live with them. She had always wanted a little sibling and she had completely lucked out with Skye.

She couldn't imagine her life without the little girl and it was nice to know that Skye felt the same way about her.

At this point, Skye had been living with them for six months now and the running joke in the family was that the little girl was her mini-me. Nat had to admit that it was a little true. She was absolutely pleased that Skye wanted to be like her, but her little sister also wanted to be like Wanda and her mom so it wasn't like Skye was transforming into an exact replica of her… but when they were together, they were a dynamic duo. Skye would repeat a lot of what she said and tried to act like her. 

It was pretty cute.

That was kind of what was happening right now. Her family was sitting around the living room doing various things. It felt nice to just hang out with everyone even though they were all engaged in different activities. Wanda and her mom were talking quietly on the couch. Her dad and Pietro were playing a card game and sitting around the coffee table while she, Skye, and Trip were sitting on the floor watching television.

They were trying to find something to watch on t.v. and Trip went past Elf on the channel guide. She wasn't a huge fan of the Christmas movie, and the fact that it was the middle of March didn’t help to stem her annoyance.

She huffed out a breath and Trip rolled his eyes at her, "What?"

"There's a Christmas movie playing in the middle of March,” She grumbled, pointing to the screen.

Trip grinned, looked back to the television, clicked on Elf, and the movie started to play.

Skye, who was sitting cross-legged between the two of them, turned to look at Trip, "What's this?"

"It's the best Christmas movie you're ever going to see,” He said, giving her an easy smile.

Skye stared at the screen for a couple seconds before turning back to Trip, "He's supposed to be an elf? But he's too tall!"

"He's a human who was raised by elves, that's why he's so tall. Christmas is already the best holiday ever and this movie makes it even better."

Nat crossed her arms indignantly, "Christmas isn't the best holiday ever, there are other holidays that are way better."

Both of her siblings turned to look at her and Trip raised an eyebrow, "Uh, yes it is. Who doesn't like presents?"

Skye grinned and clapped her hands together in happiness, "I  _ love _ presents."

"Presents are cool but Christmas is vastly overrated,” Natasha stated matter-of-factly.

"What are you talking about? Everybody loves Christmas!" Her brother protested.

"Of  _ course _ everybody loves Christmas. They start playing Christmas songs in October, people hang decorations all over the place, and all people talk about for three whole months is that stupid holiday. Christmas is shoved down our throats for, like, four months out of the year. If you don't like it, you're deemed an outcast in our society."

Trip blinked at her and then stage-whispered to Skye, "It's getting deep over here."

"What holiday do you think is the best Nattie?" Skye asked, crawling over and sitting close to her side.

She smiled down at Skye and confidently stated, "Easter, for sure."

"You can't tell me that you think  _ Easter _ is better than  _ Christmas _ . Why would you even think that?!" Trip yelled in exasperation, slapping his hand down on the floor dramatically.

She cooly raised an eyebrow, "Free candy, good food, Easter egg hunts."

After a moment of deep consideration that looked kind of silly on a six year old, Skye nodded, "Yeah, Easter  _ is _ better."

"You're just saying that because Tasha said that."

"No I'm not!"

She could tell that Trip was getting worked up over this and she had to admit that it was pretty amusing to watch. He glared at them, "Skye, Santa has elves! He gives presents to kids all over the world in one night! How is that not cooler than a little Easter bunny?"

Skye crossed her arms just like Natasha did and said, "The Easter bunny hides eggs for kids all over the world too.  _ And _ he doesn't have elves to help him, he does it all on his own."

Nat put a hand on Skye's shoulder, "Good point Skye,” She praised, resting a hand on her little sister’s shoulder, which made her positively glow with happiness.

"Thanks Nattie,” Skye said, beaming and leaning into her side.

She turned back to Trip and smirked, "It's okay if you like Christmas, everyone's entitled to their opinions. I'm just saying that it isn't the only awesome holiday."

Skye nodded and parrotted, "Yeah, it's not the only awesome holiday."

She couldn't help but laugh as Skye repeated exactly what she said and held herself in the same manner that she did. Trip rolled his eyes and shrugged, "Yeah whatever, you guys always team up against me."

That was actually fairly true and she grinned, uncrossed her arms, and stuck her tongue out at her brother, "Don't be jealous."

After glancing at her, Skye uncrossed her arms and smiled, "Yeah, don't be jealous."

Trip laughed, turned back to the television, and started watching his Christmas movie, obviously coming to the conclusion that there was no point continuing this conversation. She liked getting Trip all riled up though, and now that he wasn’t playing along, she was kind of bored, so she turned to Skye, "Let's go play on the swings. I don't really like this movie."

Her sister nodded and they both made their way to the backyard. They each sat down on a swing and she looked over to Skye, "So is Easter really your favorite holiday?"

"It's alright. Christmas was never very fun because sometimes I didn't get any toys or presents. I wasn't allowed to go trick or treating at the orphanage and I've never really had a real birthday party, so I guess Easter is my favorite. When I lived with the Harvey's, I went to an Easter egg hunt with them and it was really fun!"

Skye was grinning, obviously remembering a fond event from when she was a little younger, but Nat couldn't help but feel terrible that Skye seemed to have so many unhappy memories. All little kids should at least be able to celebrate and have fun on the holidays.

Skye didn't seem to think anything of her unhappy holidays, she was happily swinging on her swing and smiling. Since Skye had started to regularly talk to Jiaying, she was having an easier time talking to them about her troubled past. The therapist was helping Skye a lot and it was nice that she felt comfortable enough to open up to them, but sometimes she would say something about her past that would make Nat's teeth clench and her hands curl up into fists. She knew that Skye had had a tough time before she came to live with them but to actually hear some of the stuff that she went through made anger flood through her. Despite this, she made sure to remain calm in front of Skye, she didn't want the little girl to think she couldn't talk to her about what happened to her, but it was hard sometimes.

Pushing aside her anger, she forced herself to smile at Skye and say, "Were the Harvey's your favorite family to live with?"

" _ You're _ my favorite family to live with!" Skye said with wide-eyes, turning slightly in her swing to give her a serious look.

She couldn't help but chuckle a little, "I meant besides us."

"Yeah, they were really nice and they wanted to be my mom and dad. They were never mean to me and they never did bad things. I miss them a lot sometimes."

She saw Skye deflate a little and berated herself for bringing up something that made her little sister sad. She ignored the part about how there  _ were  _ people who had been mean and had done bad things to Skye, and was about to change the subject when Skye said, "They died in a car accident."

Natasha already knew that but she didn't tell Skye, she just listened as the little girl continued to talk, "I thought that I had killed them, Mr. Ramsey said that I’d killed them, but I didn't. It was an accident and accidents aren't anyone's fault, Mommy and Jay say so."

Through gritted teeth, Nat managed to say, "They're right, accidents aren't anyone’s fault."

Skye nodded absentmindedly and kept talking. She didn't think Skye was looking for a conversation and she was more than happy to just listen and be there for her little sister, "The Ramsey's weren't very good. Mr. Ramsey was mean and threw things at me and was bad. The Harvey's were the best family I lived with until I came to live with you. I love being in your family."

After that, Skye went back to focusing on her swing and Nat listened as she started humming a Frozen song. Skye swung on like nothing happened and she didn't just recount her past abuse. Nat didn't know how Skye was able to move on so quickly but she couldn't do that, she was just too upset, so she got off her swing to push Skye.

Despite how upsetting Skye’s words were, she laughed and kept talking to Skye even as she felt a steady flow of anger run through her. No matter how many times she heard it, she would still never be able to be come to terms with Skye's past. Her little sister had been through too much and she didn't know who could have ever purposefully hurt  _ anybody _ , let alone a little kid. She had seen the scars on Skye's belly, heard some stories about what had happened to her, she'd seen the way that Skye had reacted around them when she first came to live with them. She wasn't an idiot, she knew that Skye had been abused, neglected, tormented, and it  _ killed _ her to think about that. She wanted to protect Skye, to keep her safe and happy, and she had generally been able to do that. Her sister was happy most of the time and she was safe in their house, the only thing Nat couldn't protect her from was her past, and she hated that.

She stepped back from the swings and smiled at Skye, "I'm going to the bathroom. Are you okay out here?"

Skye nodded but Nat knew that her little sister didn't really like to be alone, so she said, "I'll send Wanda out here to play until I get back."

This time, Skye nodded more convincingly and kept swinging.

Her smiled melted away as she turned towards the house and walked inside. She stormed past the living room on her way upstairs and said, "Hey Wanda, could you go play with Skye for a little bit? I have to go to the bathroom."

Her older sister nodded, got up, and flicked Pietro on the back of his head as she headed towards the backdoor. Nat moved past the rest of her family and made her way upstairs. Instead of heading into the bathroom, she turned and walked into her bedroom.

Standing in the middle of her room, she looked around, not quite sure what she was doing in here but she didn't think that she could keep pretending to be alright in front of Skye any longer. She tried to take a deep breath and calm herself down like her parents taught her to do but she couldn't. All she could see in her head was images of tiny Skye getting yelled at, having things thrown at her, being scared of the family she was living with, and it was too much.

She didn't  _ mean _ to knock over her desk chair, it just happened. She hadn't had an outburst like this in a long time, since she was at least twelve, and she immediately felt bad. Her anger slowly melted away and turned to sadness. Skye didn't deserve the childhood that she was given. She deserved so much better than broken homes and scary parents and even though she was with them now, it made Nat miserable to think about what the little girl had had to go through to get here.

Kicking chairs wasn't going to help anybody, and she knew that letting her anger get the better of her like this wasn't healthy, her parents and therapist had told her that countless times, so she sighed and leaned over to pick up her chair. She heard footsteps heading towards her room so she quickly put her chair back where it belonged and turned to the doorway just as her mom walked in.

"Everything alright?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

She was about to brush off what had happened but then her eyes started welling up with tears out of nowhere. She forced herself not to cry and took a deep breath, "No, everything isn't alright. Mom, Skye was  _ abused _ . She's had things thrown at her, she's been yelled at, and she was scared of the people she used to have to live with, and it's  _ not _ alright. Skye talks about it and I don't think she understands how messed up her past is!"

Her breathing was too quick and erratic and her head started to ache a bit because she refused to let herself cry. What did  _ she _ have to cry about?

Her mom walked towards her and put a gentle hand on her shoulder, "She knows how messed up it is. I know that it's difficult to hear about Skye's past sometimes, believe me, I know that, but it's good that she's talking about it. She's healing and we should encourage her to keep talking about her past, no matter how hard it is to hear."

She knew that her mom was right but sometimes it was hard, "How do you handle it?"

She watched as her mom grimly smiled, "I just remember that I reported everyone who has ever hurt Skye and I know that they're now under investigation and are probably unable to foster any other kids." Her mom paused to lean forward and brush her hair over her shoulder, "Plus, Skye's with us. She's safe and happy and that's all that really matters right now."

After thinking it over, she nodded. Skye didn't like seeing her angry or sad and Nat didn't want to make Skye feel upset, so she shook off her negative feelings and tried to smile at her mom, "You're right."

"Of course I am. You okay?" She asked, brushing a kiss over her forehead and giving her a tiny smile. 

"Yeah, I'm alright. Skye's probably wondering where I am though."

Her mom raised an eyebrow and glanced around the room, "What was that noise?"

Her cheeks heated up in embarrassment and she looked at her feet, "I knocked over a chair." When her mom remained quiet, she continued talking, "I didn't mean to and I know it was wrong to let things get to me like that."

Her mom stayed silent for a couple more seconds before surprising her by leaning in to kiss her forehead again, "I'm so proud of you."

Nat pulled her gaze off of her shoes and looked up to her mom. She had not been expecting that response, "What?"

"I'm just very proud of you. You're so mature and I know how hard it was for you to get to where you are now considering where you started."

She felt her cheeks grow a little warmer at the praise she was receiving and heard her mom laugh, "I love you."

She smiled, "I love you too mom."

Her mom caressed her cheek, smiled at her, and motioned for them to head back downstairs, "Come on, Skye's probably wondering where you are."

She led her mom out of her room and back downstairs, where she squeezed her hand and then sat down by her dad while Nat made her way back outside. When she saw the scene before her, she stopped in her tracks. 

She hadn't noticed it when she’d walked through the living room, but apparently Trip and Pietro had joined her sisters outside. All the big kids were running away from Skye and Natasha guessed that they were playing tag and Skye was It. Pietro was climbing on top of the monkey bars so that Skye couldn't reach him while Trip ran and hid behind a tree and Wanda taunted Skye from beside the slide.

Skye was jumping up and down and trying to tag Pietro when Nat cleared her throat, causing the little girl looked over to her, "Nattie's back!"

The obvious happiness and excitement in Skye’s voice caused her to smile. Her mom was right, Skye was happy and healing right now and that was really all that mattered. She would try and keep that in mind the next time Skye brought up her past. She couldn't guarantee that she would be able to maintain her cool, but she would try her hardest.

"What's going on here?" She asked, walking towards her little sister. 

Skye grinned and ran over to her, "We're playing tag and I'm It. Can you be on my team?"

It was a silly question and Skye already knew what her answer would be, so when she held out her hand, Skye took it and they both started walking back towards Pietro, "I would  _ love _ to be on your team."

Skye squealed and Pietro pointed at them from his perch on top of the monkey bars, "Hey, no fair! There are no teams in tag!"

Nat lifted Skye up and she easily tapped Pietro's shoulder. She smirked at him and set Skye down, "Too bad, you're it."

Her sister giggled happily, squealed when Pietro started to jump down after them, and tugged on her hand as they both ran away.


	5. The Coulson's Go to the Beach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: The Coulson's go to the beach

"Skye, please stay still sweetheart."

She tried not to wiggle around but she could see the ocean  _ right there _ and she wanted to run to it  _ so badly. _

So far, it had been a pretty fun extended weekend but it had gotten even more exciting when Pietro had announced that he wanted to go to the beach. They had the time to drive there, they still had time left in their break, and they didn't have any plans so they had all decided that a beach day would be fun.

Skye had still been half-asleep when her mom had woken her up really early and helped her put on her bathing suit and a sundress before pulling her hair into two pigtails. Her mom had carried her to the car, where she promptly fell back asleep as soon as they pulled out of the driveway. She woke up with Wanda sitting beside her, on an unfamiliar road with music playing softly from the radio. She didn't mind that she had no idea where they were.

Trip, Nattie, and Pietro were still sleeping so she sang songs with Wanda until they all woke up. After that, they played fun car games until they  _ finally _ made it to the beach. They had parked in a parking lot nearby and everyone else was unloading their beach supplies from the car while her dad tried to put sunscreen on her. He was taking a really long time and it felt like they weren’t making any progress.

She let out a frustrated breath and looked up at him, "Daddy, what’s taking so long?"

He sighed deeply, "Hold still while I put this on your face and then we can go find a place to set up, okay?"

Nodding, she forced herself to stop looking around long enough for him to slather sunscreen all over her face. She accidentally licked some off her lips and shuddered in disgust at the awful, chemical taste it left in her mouth. 

He finally finished with the sunscreen, which caused him to look as relieved as she felt. She grabbed onto his hand and waited as he picked up a rainbow-colored beach umbrella with his other hand. Everyone else had various things in their hands, towels, beach bags, a cooler, and Skye grinned at all of them. She had never been to the beach before and it was exciting.

Nattie was dressed for the occasion in jean shorts and a white tank top that covered her light pink bathing suit, while Wanda wore a pretty blue sundress over her black and white polka-dot bathing suit, and they were both holding onto one side of a mid-sized cooler. Pietro, who had on black and blue striped swimming trunks and a grey shirt, was carrying some beach chairs. He looked kind of funny because the four chairs he was holding were balanced precariously against each other and looked like they were going to fall over at any moment. Trip was wearing black swimming trunks and a blue shirt and had three different bags weighing down his shoulders. Skye knew that one of those bags was filled with a bunch of beach toys, including plastic pails and shovels, and she was excited to play with them. Her mom had on jean shorts and a black tank top and Skye could see the strings to her red bathing suit where it tied behind her neck. She had another bag resting on her shoulders and was trying her best to prevent everyone from from bolting off to the beach.

"Can we go now?" She whined, tugging impatiently on her dad’s hand. 

He glanced around to see if they were ready, "We all set?"

Everyone nodded and Pietro lost his balance a little, causing one of the chairs he was holding to topple to the ground. Their mom leaned down, picked it up for him, and he smiled gratefully at her.

Skye let out another impatient breath, "Let's  _ go _ already!"

May grinned at her, "Alright, alright. Hold your horses, little girl,” Her mom quipped, reaching down to gently brush her bangs away from her eyes.

They started walking towards the golden sand and Skye scrunched up her nose in confusion, "I don't have any horses."

Trip laughed and her mom fondly shook her head.

She shrugged, not sure what was so funny, and instantly forgot about her conversation with her mom when she stepped onto the sand. She was wearing sandals and let go of her dad’s hand to quickly pull them off so that she could feel the sand beneath her feet. As soon as her feet were free, she wiggled her toes and squealed in delight at the unusual feeling of sand surrounding her feet, "It's so soft!"

Letting her shoes dangle from one hand, she grabbed her dad’s hand with the other. He looked down at her and smiled happily, "We can make a sandcastle a little later. How does that sound?"

"Yes!"

She turned her head and looked over to the ocean. Small waves were breaking against the shore and the water was a beautiful turquoise. There were enough clouds in the sky to combat the brightness of the sun and a gentle breeze that smelled of salt lightly blew through her hair. The end of her pigtails tickled against her back and she blindly followed her dad and the rest of her family until they stopped at a random spot.

Everyone set their things down while their mom pulled out a sheet and started to spread it out on the sand. She felt restless, especially being so close to the waves, and she  _ really _ wanted to go to them.

"Can I go see the water?" She asked, impatiently tugging on her dad’s hand, which gripped tightly around hers to prevent her from wandering off until they had set up their things and she could be watched properly. 

After checking on everyone’s progress, he nodded, "Okay sweetheart. Be careful though."

She untangled their hands, ready to run, and heard her dad say, "Nat, Pietro, could you go down to the water with your sister? Keep an eye on her please."

After dropping the rest of their things, Nattie and Pietro both held out a hand towards her and she took them before impatiently pulling her siblings towards the water. She looked down at her feet as they walked towards the ocean, admiring the shells poking out of the sand and the small clumps of seaweed that peppered the beach. The closer they got to the water, the denser the sand got, and when she felt it start to get damp, she looked up and saw the water creep towards her toes.

She glanced up at Nattie and her sister gave her an encouraging smile, so she took a deep breath and stepped forward so that her feet were partially submerged in saltwater.

The water was cool and she could smell the salt in the air.

She let out a laugh of pure happiness. The beach was  _ amazing _ . She wiggled her toes around and let out a surprised sound when her feet sunk a lower into the sand.

Without warning, water surged up and crashed against her calves. It splashed against her thighs and she yelped and jerked back, convinced the ocean was attempting to attack her. She scrambled out of the water, behind Pietro's legs, and tried to climb up him.

He laughed, picked her up, and set her on his hip. 

"Why did it do that?"

He wiped a drop of saltwater off of her cheek and took a step further into the ocean. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, hesitant to go any further since she couldn't swim.

"It's just the waves. They aren't very big right now but you should still be careful because they might be able to knock you over. You’re such a tiny little monkey,” He said in a teasing baby voice, and she stuck her tongue out and pinched his shoulder. He chuckled, “You don't have to be afraid of the waves, it's just water."

Peering down, she studied the traitorous water swirling around Pietro's ankles. When she glanced over to her sister, she saw that Nattie was happily digging her feet into the sand. Both of her siblings looked happy enough and it didn't bother them when the waves pushed against their legs so Skye nodded and tapped Pietro's shoulder so that he knew she wanted to be put back on the ground.

He took a step back and set her down in front of him but grabbed onto both of her hands. He held their hands slightly over her head and in front of her to keep her steady as another wave crashed into her legs. Water quickly climbed up her calves only to draw back into the ocean and this time Skye didn't run away, she stood still and tentatively smiled. 

After a few repetitions of the waves brushing against her legs, she decided that the ocean wasn't attacking her, it was just saying hello.

She grinned up at Pietro and pulled her hands back so that she could walk over to her sister, who was still digging her feet into the wet sand. As she glanced over her shoulder, she saw that the rest of her family was almost finished setting up everything. A sheet was spread out on the sand and the rainbow-colored umbrella was standing next to it and providing shade. The four beach chairs were clustered around the sheet and the cooler was placed by one of them. Bags were scattered around and Wanda had already taken off her sundress and was lying down, reading a book on a towel in the sun.

She focused back onto the ocean and this time when a wave came crashing towards her, she ran out of the way and tried not to let the water touch her toes. She laughed and when the wave receded, ran back up to the ocean only to sprint back up the sand in an attempt to evade the water creeping towards her. Nattie saw her and joined in and it became a game; if the water touched you, you lost. It was fun and kind of hard because each wave was quickly replaced by another.

Pietro had joined their little game and she was shrieking with laughter even though she was starting to get a little out of breath. A wave crashed towards them and this time she was too slow as she backpedaled away from it. Before the water reached her toes, she felt someone grab her around the waist and gently lift her up. She laughed and kicked her legs in the air before turning to see who had grabbed her. She smiled as her mom pulled her into her chest and cuddled her close. As she peaked over her shoulder, she saw that the rest of her family, minus Wanda, was making their way to the water.

Wrapping one arm around her mom’s neck, she pointed down to the wave coming towards them, "Look Mommy! The ocean is saying hi!"

"It is?"

"Yep! It sent the waves to come and play with me!" She nodded, watching as the water swirled around her mom’s ankles. 

Her mom kissed her cheek and set her back onto the sand, "The ocean must like you baby."

* * *

 

Skye was building a sandcastle with her dad, Wanda, and Nattie while her mom sat in a chair next to them and watched. Her brothers were throwing a football back and forth by the water and the sun was high in the sky.

They had been at the beach for an hour or two and Skye had spent the majority of that time playing her wave game with her family and building her sandcastle. She had to admit that it was an  _ awesome _ sandcastle.

Skye packed damp sand into her pails and her dad dutifully flipped the buckets over so that they could make their sandcastle bigger. Nattie was working on a moat and Wanda was gathering pretty shells for them to decorate the castle with.

By the time they finished the castle, Skye had sand all over her and the saltwater had dried onto her skin, making her feel slightly sticky. She posed by her creation and her mom took a picture to commemorate their success in architecture. 

As she was admiring her work, she heard her mom ask, "Are you hungry?"

Skye nodded and moved to sit on the sheet, under the shade provided by the umbrella. Sand had gotten onto the sheet and she made herself busy with trying to wipe it away as the rest of her family wandered over, eager to eat. Her siblings claimed the chairs while her parents sat beside her, pulled the cooler over to them, and passed out containers of fruit, bags of chips, and water.

She munched on some pretzels and watched with interest as seagulls started creeping closer and closer to them. The birds would land a couple feet away and then slowly start to inch closer to her before getting spooked and flying off, only to repeat the process again. One bird in particular kept getting close to her and right now she was locked into a staring contest with it. 

She slowly brought a pretzel to her mouth and bit into it.

The bird stared at her.

She chewed, swallowed, and paused before taking another bite. She felt bad for eating in front of it because it had no food and was probably hungry too.

"Sorry little birdy, this is my food, not yours,” She muttered apologetically.

The bird continued to stare at her and quickly flew away when her mom spoke up, "Don't feed them sweetie, they won't leave us alone if you do."

It made sense but she still felt bad for the little guys as she finished up with her food. The birds were still standing around them, still hopeful that they would give in and feed them or drop something they could eat. Trip slowly stood up and leaned in close to whisper in her, "Come on Skye."

Standing up slowing, she grabbed onto his offered hand. They slowly started walking towards the birds and stopped a safe distance away from them. Trip leaned down and whispered, "When I say 'go', let's run towards them. It'll be fun."

Skye nodded and waited until Trip quietly said, "Go," before she sprinted towards the birds. Trip was right beside her as he was waved his arms around and shouted at the birds. They laughed and watched as the birds quickly flew away from them and landed a couple feet away. She and Trip ran over and they scattered again.

When they started to feel bad for the birds, they made their way back to their family. Her mom arched an eyebrow at them and Trip shrugged, "What? It's fun!"

Skye nodded in agreement and her mom chuckled before going back to putting the food away. Pietro shoved his last handful of chips into his mouth, stood up, and pulled his shirt off, "Let's go swimming."

"Race you to the water!" Nattie yelled, standing up and sprinting away.

Pietro ran after her, shouting about cheating, while Trip hastily pulled off his shirt and sprinted behind them and Wanda wandered after them at her own pace. 

Skye hung back and munched on the last of her strawberries. She couldn't swim.

When her parents finished putting everything away, they shifted their attention to her. Her dad asked, "You don't want to go swimming?"

"No,” She replied, digging her toes into the sand so that she had something to do.

"Why not? Can you swim?" Her mom asked gently, kneeling down beside her on their sheet.

Her cheeks heated up as she blushed and she shook her head. 

"That's okay, we'll teach you later. For now, you can still play in the water, right?"

After thinking about it for a moment, she nodded and her mom grinned and helped her tug off her sundress so that it didn’t get caught in her hair. She obediently let her mom re-apply more sunscreen onto her before her parents both led her towards the water. Her siblings were splashing around in the waves and she couldn't help but smile happily as Trip snuck up behind Pietro and shoved him underwater. Skye laughed when Pietro popped out of the water and splashed Trip in retaliation.

Her confidence wavered as she walked into the water and she stopped when she got knee deep. Her dad walked a couple feet ahead of her and turned around, "Come on Skye, I've got you."

After eyeing him uncertainly, she looked up to her mom, who nodded encouragingly at her. With her encouragement, she cautiously made her way towards her dad until she felt the water reach her belly-button. With the warm water creeping up her waist, she stopped a little bit away from him and shook her head, "It's too deep."

He shook his head and beckoned her forward, "It'll be okay, trust me."

She  _ did _ trust him so she took a deep breath and another step forward. The water moved up her belly and  _ finally _ she made it to her dad, and she sighed in relief when he pulled her into his arms. He set her on his hip, and once her mom joined them, they started making their way deeper into the ocean. He stopped when the water reached his waist and Skye loosened her chokehold on his neck as she calmed down a bit. She felt safe in his arms even though she couldn't see the sand beneath their feet.

Her mom stood next to her and ran a comforting hand down her back. When she looked over, she saw Nattie and Wanda start to move towards them while Pietro and Trip appeared to be body-surfing the waves to shore. She was watching them crash into the sand when her dad unexpectedly repositioned his hands so that he was holding her waist and then lifted her above his head. She squealed and swung her legs in mid-air until he lowered her back down. Before she could even catch her breath, he carefully tossed her up into the air and caught her.

Skye shrieked with laughter and demanded, "Again!"

He tossed her up into the air again and again until he asked her if she wanted to try something else. She nodded eagerly and he held her so that one arm was wrapped around her waist and the other was holding her hand, "Okay, I'll hold you up and you can try swimming around, okay?"

He must have seen the uncertainty in her face because he quickly reassured her, "Don't worry, I won't let you go. You'll be alright sweetheart."

She nodded but couldn't help but yelp as her dad gently lowered her into the water and it crept up her chest. He kept her stable and afloat by keeping his arms wrapped around her waist but she still kicked her legs in the water and it kind of felt like she was swimming on her own.

"Look Wanda, I'm almost swimming!" She exclaimed, looking over to see if her sisters were watching her. 

Wanda was carrying Nattie on her back and she smiled at her, "Good job Skye, you're a natural."

Natasha unwrapped one arm from around Wanda's neck and gave her a smile and a thumbs up.

She turned back to her dad when he asked, "Want to try swimming to Mommy?"

Her mom seemed to be close enough, she was standing only a foot or two away, so Skye nodded determinedly. Her dad shifted her a little so that she wasn't bobbing up and down in the water and instead was pointed towards her mom. She started kicking her legs and knew that she probably wouldn't be moving as quickly if it hadn't been for her dad supporting her.

Her mom held her arms out in front of her and when Skye got close enough, she reached her arms out and let her plucked her out of her dad's hands. Her mom held her close and Skye couldn't stop smiling from how proud of herself she was. 

"You did such a good job!” Her mom said proudly, leaning forward to place a kiss to her forehead. 

She felt her cheeks heat up at the praise and she shyly rested her head on her mom's shoulder, "Thanks Mommy."

Right now, she felt like she could do  _ anything _ , and she never wanted to leave the beach.

* * *

 

The sun was starting to set and Melinda could tell that it would be completely dark in an hour or two. Phil had suggested that they all take a walk down the beach to finish off their trip and she was holding his hand while watching her children jog ahead of them. Her kids were looking for sharks teeth and pretty shells along the shore line and she sighed in content. 

Because today was so perfect, she had taken a  _ lot _ of pictures, Phil had jokingly poked fun at her for it, but she couldn't bring herself to care. She wanted to remember every moment of today for the rest of her life, even if it meant she looked like an over-the-top mom. She was happy, her husband was happy, and most importantly, her children were happy.

Skye split away from the rest of her kids, walked back to them, and wedged herself between her and Phil. She grabbed onto both of their hands and impatiently tugged on their hands, and May knew what she wanted. A couple of weeks ago, Skye had walked between her and Phil and had been delighted to find out that they could swing her between them. Ever since then, that's all she wanted to do.

Phil glanced over to her and smiled before counting down, "One, two, three!"

Mel tightened her hold on Skye's hand and swung her forward. Her daughter squealed as her feet left the ground and she was swung forward. 

Skye landed back on the ground, laughed, and tugged on their hands again. May chuckled and they made their way down the beach, periodically swinging Skye between them and watching the sun start to set.

Before going too far, they all turned around and started making their way back towards their things. They got back to their blanket and chairs just as the sun touched the coastline, and she made her way to the water and let the waves brush over her toes as she watched the sky change colors.

A tug on her hand caused her to look down to see Skye making grabby hands at her. She lifted the little girl up and set her on her hip just as someone stepped up next her. When she looked over, she saw the rest of her children standing beside her. They all looked at the setting sun and after a couple more seconds, Phil joined them.

By the time the sun set, Skye was limp in her arms and she could tell that the little girl had fallen asleep. She turned back towards their things and said, "Okay guys, time to go."

Everyone groaned but went to pack everything up.

She kept Skye cradled close to her and tried to help as much as she could without waking her. The sun and excitement of the day must have tuckered her out because it was still an hour or two before her bedtime.

They packed up the car and May gently placed Skye into her booster seat and buckled her in, honestly surprised that she was still sleeping peacefully.

On the way home, Phil drove and her gave her a chance to look through her phone's photo gallery. She looked back to make sure her kids were comfortable first and found them all sound asleep. Skye was leaning into Natasha, whose head was resting against the seatback. Trip's head was tilting on his shoulder at an uncomfortable angle and she knew that his neck would probably be aching later. In the very back of the car, Wanda was turned in her seat so that her back was resting against the window and her feet were resting in Pietro's lap, while Pietro was hilariously slumped over in his seat.

She chuckled to herself and turned back around, happy that they were all content for the time being. She got comfortable and rolled her eyes at Phil’s disapproving glance as she rested her bare feet against the dashboard. 

As she looked through her photos of today, she laughed at one of Skye and Natasha burying Pietro's body in the sand. Her heart felt full and about to burst as she swiped through pictures of Skye and Trip running towards a cluster of birds, and a shot of Natasha and Wanda smiling at the camera and hugging each other tightly.

When she got to the last of her pictures, she paused. She hadn’t taken this one, Phil must have.

It was beautiful and she felt her breath catch in her throat as she stared at it.

It was a shot of her and all the kids staring at the setting sun. The sky was a gorgeous orangey-pink and they were all facing the sunset so she could only see their backs. Since the only source of light was in front of them, the picture mostly just showed their silhouettes. Skye was in her arms with her head leaning on her shoulder. Pietro was to her right and he had an elbow resting on Natasha's shoulder, and on her other side, Wanda and Trip were looking at the sunset and standing close to each other.

She studied the picture and smiled softly at it, glad that Phil had captured this moment so that she could hang onto it forever.


	6. Skye Gets Into a Car Accident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Skye gets in another car accident.

Skye had thought that the idea of being in a car with someone other than her mom and dad would be terrifying, and she had been right… at first.

The first time that she had gone home with Jemma, she had been absolutely petrified. Her parents hadn’t been able to leave work and pick her up from school so Jemma's mom had kindly offered to take her home with them. She’d tried to be brave in front of her friend and it had helped that her mom had told Jemma's mom that she liked listening to Disney music in the car, but she had still been afraid the whole time. She hadn’t really had anything to be scared about, Jemma's mom is a really careful driver and drove extra cautiously when Skye was in the car because she knew how anxious she was. It was hard, but she tried to keep that in mind the next time Jemma's mom picked her up from school, and after that, she had gradually relaxed enough for them to assemble a weekly carpool.

She was fine now, sitting in the car beside Jemma, each of them in their booster seats and singing loudly to the Tangled song that was playing. She had long since felt comfortable in a car with Jemma's mom, and even though she would  _ definitely _ rather be with her parents, she was happy that if she had drive with anyone else, it was Jemma's mom.

The song ended and Jemma turned to her, "We should do our vocabulary homework right when we get home so that we can work together."

Skye nodded enthusiastically because Jemma was super smart and if they both worked together on their homework, it would get done twice as fast as it normally would. She glanced out the window, saw that they were nearly to Jemma's house, and turned back to her friend, "Okay, we should see if your mom can take us to the castle playground when we’re done! Maybe Ward will be there!"

Jemma opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by a loud screeching noise. The sound pierced her ears and she barely had time to look up before she was violently jerked to the side. The wind got knocked out of her and she heard a crashing noise and the tinkling of shattering glass.

Her seatbelt stopped her from falling forward but the belt was really tight and hurt where it was pressed against her body. Her arms and legs were flailing all over the place and she thought she felt the car teeter from side to side before jolting to a stop. It was over before she even had time to scream.

She blinked a couple of times, groaned, and raised a hand to her head.

Touching her forehead, she winced when she felt a sharp pain burst through her skull at the contact. She pulled her hand away and looked at it, dazedly staring at the blood on her fingers.

Her breathing started to pick up and she felt her chest heave up and down, and she couldn’t help but remember the last time something like this had happened. 

She ignored her aching body and desperately looked towards the front seat. Jemma's mom was slumped over the steering wheel and Skye felt tears well up in her eyes.

This was just like what had happened before. 

She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to block out the images of the Harvey's. She forced herself to push aside the images of broken bones and heads twisted at unnatural angles and managed to open her eyes back up.

This wasn't the same thing, she told herself. She wouldn't let this be like the last time.

When she heard a weak cough to her left, she looked over to find Jemma holding a hand to her head and looking around, "Skye?"

The fact that Jemma appeared to be alright gave her some relief, "Jemma! Are you okay?"

"My head hurts!" Jemma cried, tears starting to run down her face. 

Her eyes started burning with unshed tears but she forced herself not to cry. Jemma was scared and she needed to help her, "It's okay Jemma."

"My head hurts really bad! Where's my mom?" 

Skye tried to unbuckle her stupid seat belt but she had trouble doing that on a normal day, let alone when she had just been in an accident. She forced that thought out of her mind, she didn't want to think about car accidents, she just wanted to make sure everyone was okay.

After a long struggle, she gave up on trying to unbuckle herself and held out a hand towards her friend. She didn't notice that it was the hand that still had blood all over it, "Don’t be scared, everything’s okay Jemma."

Her friend wasn't listening to her. She was staring at the front seat, where her mom was still slumped over, and was crying hysterically.

As she grabbed onto her friend’s hand, Jemma start yelling, "Mommy! Mommy, wake up! Please!"

It sounded so similar to what she had said to the Harvey's that it made her feel nauseous.

Jemma's mom wasn't answering her but Skye saw her fingers twitch and when she looked closer, she could see her chest moving up and down with each breath she took. The relief she felt was enough to make tears start to fall down her cheeks. She raised her other hand and went to point at Jemma's mom, to show her friend that she was fine, and cried out when burning pain radiated up her arm. She hadn’t noticed before, but her wrist  _ really _ hurt.

She cradled her injured wrist to her chest, tried to forget about the pain, and squeezed Jemma's fingers with her other hand, "Your mom's okay Jemma, look! She's breathing!"

"Why isn't she answering me?" She asked, still hysterical.

She was about to answer when someone banged on Jemma's window. Her friend screamed and Skye felt her heart start to beat faster than it already was. 

A woman wearing a firefighter uniform was standing outside Jemma's window, and she shouted to them, "Are you okay?"

Skye thought that that was a dumb question. Did it  _ look _ like they were okay?

Regardless of the stupidity of the question, Skye nodded.

The lady surveyed them and said, "Okay, I'm going to open your door alright? You two are very brave."

Jemma was still crying and Skye could hear her try to catch her breath, so she ignored the firefighter and focused on her friend, "Jemma, look at me!"

Her friend turned her head and stared at her, which Skye took as a small victory, so she smiled at her encouragingly, "Good, remember how I catch my breath when I have a panic attack?"

Jemma hiccupped and nodded, and Skye was just relieved that she was paying attention to her. She squeezed her hand, "Let's do that, okay?"

Jemma nodded again and she tried to make her voice sound like her mom's did when she was comforting her, "Breathe in… and breathe out. Breathe in… and breathe out."

Skye made sure that Jemma was trying to match her breathing and after a minute, Jemma was able to catch her breath. Her friend sucked down air and visibly calmed down a little bit.

Just as Jemma seemed to be stabilizing, her door was yanked open and her friend screamed again. The firefighter lady was reaching in towards Jemma and Skye could see another firefighter trying to open the front door so that they could get to Jemma's mom. She let go of Jemma's hand and held it protectively in front of her friend, "Don't touch her!"

The lady held up her hands and looked over to her, "I'm here to help you guys okay? My name's Ellie, what's yours?"

Skye gave her a mistrustful look but answered her anyways, "I'm Skye."

"Where's my Mommy? Is my Mommy okay?" Jemma asked, looking desperately to the firefighter.

"We're going to take good care of your mommy sweetheart. Is it alright if I get you out of the car?"

Before Jemma could answer, Skye heard her own car door being wrenched open. She turned her head and saw a different firefighter reaching for her, and instinctively she yelped and held up her uninjured hand, "Don't touch me!"

The man paused, "Are you okay?"

Skye didn't know if she trusted him and definitely didn’t want him near her right now. She didn't want to be here; she wanted her mom and dad and when she looked back towards Jemma, Ellie was carefully lifting her out of her booster seat. Without Jemma to distract her, she felt the reality of the situation start to sink in.

She had been in  _ another _ car accident. 

Her parents weren't here and her body hurt and images of the Harvey's started to creep into her mind and she felt warm tears trickle down her cheeks. She wanted to go home.

Something in her cracked and she started sobbing. The ache in her head intensified as she cried and desperately tried to pull air into her lungs.

A hand reached towards her again and she flinched back, "I want my Mommy and Daddy!"

She looked up at the man when she felt her seatbelt give away. He had unbuckled her and instead of reaching for her again, he held up his hands in a placating manner, "Where are your mommy and daddy? What's your name?"

She hiccupped and gave up on trying to quiet her tears; it wasn't working anyway, "T-they're work-king."

The firefighter stayed still and asked her again, "If you tell me your name, we can call your mommy and daddy and they can come and get you."

His voice was soothing and she focused on it, "Skye Coulson. My Daddy's a doctor and my Mommy's a physical therapist."

The man turned and said something before looking back to her, "Wow, they sound really important! Are they good at what they do?"

"Yeah, they're the best at everything,” She sniffled. 

"I can't wait to meet them. Is it okay if I get you out of here now?"

Skye really wanted to see her mom and dad and logically, she knew that she had to get  _ out _ of the car to do that… she just didn't know what to do and she didn't know this man and she was scared. After rubbing her eyes, she looked towards the front of the car where she heard voices talking. People were carefully taking Jemma's mom out of the car and laying her on a flat board.

Realizing that she was about to be alone, she turned back to the man and nodded.

He slowly reached towards her, probably expecting her to jerk away like before, and gently pulled her out of her booster seat. She whimpered when he jostled her injured wrist and he apologized, "Can you tell me what hurts?"

As they were walking towards an ambulance, Skye saw Jemma's mom finally wake up. She was looking around wildly and the people around her were trying to calm her down but it didn’t seem to be helping. She stared at Jemma's mom, an uneasy feeling settling in the pit of her stomach at how disoriented she looked, and asked, "Is she going to be okay?"

The man kept walking towards the ambulance, which put more distance between her and Jemma's mom, "We'll take good care of her."

When she looked around, she couldn't find Jemma, and she felt really alone. She started crying a little harder, "Where's J-Jemma? Is she okay? I want my Mommy and Daddy!"

The man gently shushed her and started talking to her again but she ignored him. She wanted her parents and her brothers and sisters; she wanted Jemma and her mom to be okay and she didn't want to be here right now.

The man placed her on a cot in an ambulance and said something to the person waiting for them. She wrapped her uninjured arm around her body and curled into herself, "I want my Mommy and Daddy! Where are they? Can you get them? Please, can you get them for me?"

She was still crying and she wasn't even talking to anyone in particular. She didn't care who did it, she just wanted  _ someone _ to get her mom and dad for her because the thought of being here without them for another moment made her want to cry forever.

Through her tears, the face of the fireman obstructed her view of anything else, "Skye, take a deep breath."

She hadn't realized that her breathing was so erratic until he mentioned it, and when she sucked in a breath, it got caught in her throat. She sniffled and tried to do the exercises that Jay had taught her and she had done with Jemma minutes before.

Slowly, she calmed down a little and focused on the fireman, "Are they h-here yet?"

He gave her a sympathetic look and said, "They'll meet you at the hospital okay? Why don't you lie down and let Joe check you over and we'll be there in no time."

Skye hiccupped and looked at Joe, who was hanging back a little bit. He smiled at her and she didn't say anything as he stepped forward and shone a light in her eyes. She continued to cry as he checked over the cut on her forehead. He put some gauze and tape over it and reached for her injured arm but she held it protectively against her chest, and he seemed to take note of that before moving on to check over some scrapes on her legs.

The ambulance stopped and she obediently let Joe strap her to the gurney so that they could take her out of the ambulance and into the hospital. She looked up as people surrounded her, "Are my Mommy and Daddy here?"

A nice looking nurse smiled down at her, "They'll be here soon sweetie."

There was too much going on around her. It was loud and her body hurt all over and she just wanted her parents.

They stopped pushing her and she really wanted to sit up and see what was going on but she couldn't because she was still strapped to the stupid bed. A man leaned over her and smiled, "Hi Skye, I'm your doctor, Remy. We're going to take you into a room and give you a CAT scan and see if there's anything hurt in your body."

Skye didn't know what a CAT scan was and she sniffled, "How does it know if I'm hurt?"

"Well, it takes a picture of the inside of your body. We can see your bones and all your organs and from that, we can see if anything is hurt. We're just waiting for the room to be ready and then we'll head in there, okay?"

The thought of a machine that could take a picture of her insides was intriguing but she immediately forgot about that when she wiggled around and accidently jostled her wrist. 

"My wrist hurts,” She whined.

"We'll fix that up, I promise. You'll be good as-"

He was cut off by a commotion down the hall.

"Where is she? She was supposed to be here by now!" A voice demanded, and her breath hitched because she  _ knew _ that voice. She tried to sit up but couldn't and she started crying harder out of frustration, "Daddy!"

Immediately, footsteps came running towards her. 

"Skye!" Another voice called out.

She sobbed harder, "Mommy!"

She saw Remy and another nurse get pushed out of the way and  _ finally _ she saw her parents standing over her. Her mom reached forward and looked like she was going to brush her bangs out of her eyes but thought better of it when she saw the cut on her forehead. She leaned down and kissed her cheek instead as her dad grabbed onto her uninjured hand, "Skye, are you okay?"

They both looked really worried and Skye felt so relieved that they were here with her. She couldn't stop crying and her throat wasn't working right so she couldn't answer. She wanted to hug them but she couldn't because she was still strapped to this dumb bed, When she started wiggling around, her dad put gentle hands on her shoulders, "Stay still sweetheart, just until we know you're okay."

His words stopped her from moving but she couldn't stop crying. Her mom was hovering over her and her hands were fluttering around, unsure of what to do or where to rest them. It wasn't often that Skye saw her mom out of her element and she didn't like it.

Remy returned to her line of sight, "You're Skye's parents?"

Her mom ignored him but her dad turned and nodded, so the doctor continued talking, "We're going to take her in and give her a CAT scan. She complained about wrist pain so we'll check that out too. There's a cut on her forehead that might require stitching and bruises where her seatbelt kept her from falling out of her seat. The medic didn't see signs of a concussion but I'll double check. I think Skye will be alright after some cleaning up."

Remy smiled down kindly at her and she felt her tears start to slow down now that her parents were here to take control. Her dad said something but she didn't hear because her mom leaned down and kissed the top of her head, her chin, and the tip of her nose before saying, "We were so worried baby. You're going to be okay."

It sounded like her mom was trying to reassure herself as much as she was trying to reassure her.

She let her parents comfort her and finally managed to stop crying. She blinked up at them and sniffled, "Jemma and her mom are okay, right?"

The kind looking nurse's face popped into view and she smiled at her, "The people who came in with you are going to be fine honey."

Relief washed through her in big waves and she tried to turn her head to look at Remy when he announced, "Room's ready, let's head in."

Her bed started to wheel forward and she gripped onto her dad's hand tighter. They tried to walk into the room with her but her parents were stopped, "Sorry, but you'll have to wait out here. No one can be in the room while Skye's getting scanned."

Panic hit her like a train and the only though running through her head was that she didn't want to be alone, "No! Mommy, Daddy, don't leave me! Please!"

She squeezed her dad's hand tighter and stared up at her mom, who gave her a pained look, "We'll be right here baby, we aren't leaving you. It'll only take a minute or two and then we can be back together."

If she could have shaken her head, she would have. Hot tears start to rolled down her cheeks, "I don't want to be alone."

Her dad leaned in so that his and her mom's faces were all that she could see, and he gave her a comforting look, "You're being so brave Skye, we're so proud of you. Could you be brave for a little longer sweetheart?"

"Okay,” She reluctantly whispered.

Her mom kissed the tip of her nose again, "That's our brave, sweet girl."

"We'll be right here okay? You'll be fine Skye, I promise,” Her dad said comfortingly.

Her bed started moving again and this time she had to let go of her dad's hand as they wheeled her into a room with a funny looking machine. 

Remy leaned over her and said, "Okay Skye, we're going to put you under this machine and it's going to scan over your whole body alright? It's very important that you stay as still as you can."

"How long 'til I can see my Mommy and Daddy again?" Skye asked.

Remy put a hand on her shoulder and nodded at someone that was out of her view. She felt the straps that were holding her to the gurney loosen but Remy's hand kept her from sitting up. He smiled at her, "If you're very still, it'll be over before you know it."

She didn't say anything and Remy glanced at someone and looked back down at her, "Okay Skye, we're going to lift you up and place you over there. One, two, three."

Hands supported her head and neck as another pair of hands lifted her body and placed her on another hard table. "Very good. We'll have to leave the room but we can hear you so if you need  _ anything _ , just say so. Now, what do you have to do while you're in here?" Remy asked her.

Skye sniffled and her voice was a little hoarse from crying but she said, "Be really still."

"Good girl. You're being so brave. I'm very proud of you and I know your parents are too."

She sniffled again and didn't say anything. His words didn't do anything to stop the constant flow of tears leaking down her cheeks and onto her hair. Remy brushed his thumb over her cheek and smiled comfortingly at her, "Stay still and this will be over soon."

He smiled at her one last time and left her line of sight. She heard the door close and after a couple of seconds, she heard his voice again, "Skye, the machine is going to start moving but don't be afraid alright? Everything's okay."

The machine started whirring and moving a little bit, and when it moved above her head, she shut her eyes to block it out. She told herself to stay still because if she did, she could see her parents real soon, so she hummed a Tangled song and waited.

It felt like it was taking forever.

Finally she heard the machine stop and after a minute or two, she heard Remy's voice again saying, "Everything looks okay Skye except for that wrist of yours. It looks like it's fractured so we'll be putting a cast on that. I'm going to come in there and we can go see your Mommy and Daddy okay?"

"Okay," She agreed, staying still because she wasn't sure if it was alright to sit up yet.

The door opened and she turned her head to look at Remy, who smiled at her, "Everything looks alright sweetie, no concussion or anything, so you're allowed to move around. You were very lucky. Let's go see your parents and then we'll head into an exam room and get you all cleaned up, okay?"

When she nodded, he helped her move back over to her moving gurney before rolling her out of the room. Her parents immediately rushed forward when they spotted her. 

She didn't know when she had stopped crying but seeing her parents made her start up again. She kept her injured wrist close to her chest but threw her other arm around her dad and tried to latch herself onto him. Her mom reached over and rubbed her back and she buried her face into the crook of her dad's neck. She ignored the flare of pain that flashed through her head as her cut made contact with his neck.

As her parents whispered soothing words to her, she took a deep breath and absently heard Remy tell them what he had told her about her fractured wrist and the stitches that she would need on her forehead. 

She stayed pressed tightly against her dad and turned her head so that it was resting against his shoulder and not pressed against his neck, "I was in another car accident."

Her mom continued to rub comforting circles on her back and leaned in so that Skye could clearly see her face, "I know baby."

"It was really scary,” She whispered.

Her dad placed a kiss to the top of her head, "I'm sorry sweetheart."

"I thought that we were going to die, like the Harvey's." Her voice broke as she said her past family's name and she turned her head and pressed it back against her dad's neck.

Her parents both made soothing noises and she felt her dad sit on her bed and pull her onto his lap. The bed started moving but she didn't look up to see where they were going. She snuggled close to him and made sure she didn't jostle her hurt wrist. She felt much better with her parents here with her.

When they stopped moving, he gently prodded her to sit up, and when she did, she saw that Remy was bringing over a tray with some scary looking tools on it. She leaned heavily into her dad and Remy gave her a comforting look, "I'm going to clean up your forehead and stitch it up alright? I'll give you a little shot so that you won't feel any pain."

Skye didn't like the idea of getting a shot, especially one on her forehead.

She watched as Remy reached forward and gently took the gauze off of her forehead. He gingerly cleaned her up and she tried not to wince as tiny shockwaves of pain spread through her head.

When he finished, he looked at her and asked, "Ready?"

She shook her head in distress. She didn't want to get a shot or to get stitches, she really just wanted to go home and take a nap.

Her mom held onto her uninjured hand, "Look at me Skye, you won't even notice anything. It'll be over before you know it."

She smiled at her and even though she still looked worried, it was a genuine smile. Skye didn't see Remy lean towards her but she felt the telltale sting of a shot as he poked her forehead.

She whimpered and before she could jerk away, Remy was pulling back and smiling at her, "Good job Skye. While that starts to work, how about we pick out a color for your cast?"

He pulled out a bunch of color samples that were held together by a clip and she stared at them in contemplation. 

"You'll have to wear a cast for a little while so think really hard about which color you want."

As she studied the different colors, she heard her dad ask, "How long?"

"It's a fairly simple fracture so she'll only need to wear a half-cast for about three or four weeks. You'll have to bring her in for a check-up in a week so that we can see if everything's healing nicely but it's a clean break so I don't think there will be any complications."

Ignoring them, she looked to her mom, "I don't know which color I want Mommy."

Her mom leaned forward and considered all the options and pointed, "That's a pretty purple."

Skye looked at the dark-ish lavender color and nodded, "Okay, I want that one."

"Okay, I'll have a nurse get everything ready and we'll fix that wrist up as soon as we stitch up this cut,” Remy said.

After mentally preparing herself, she nodded and sat on her dad's lap as her doctor stitched up her head and put a cast on her wrist. The cast felt funny and she didn't think that it would be very fun to have it on for a month. It was kind of heavy and clunky and she didn’t like it.

She started to lean heavily into her dad as Remy went over some things with her parents. She was  _ really _ tired. Her body still ached from being tossed around but her wrist felt a little better and her head didn't hurt as much. Now that she was a little more settled and sitting comfortably with her parents, she felt her eyes start to close on their own accord and sleep overtook her.

* * *

 

She woke up in her bed at home.

Blinking blearily, she reached up to rub her eyes and accidently hit her cheek with her cast. She had forgotten that it was there.

As she sat up, she saw that her parents were both slumped over in their chairs by her bed. Her mom had a firm grip on her uninjured hand and her dad’s head was resting by her knee. She shifted, pushed her blankets off of her, and gasped when she saw her legs.

There were bruises on her thighs and shins and her shoulder was a little achey. When she tugged down her shirt sleeve, she saw that there was a bruise from where her seatbelt had kept her safely in her seat.

Tears welled up in her eyes when she remembered the accident.

It had been so similar to what had happened to the Harvey's.

She had been so scared.

Carefully, she crawled down her bed, untangled her hand from her mom’s, and poked her sleeping face, "Mommy?"

She jerked awake with a gasp, looked around, focused on her, and reached towards her. Skye eagerly lifted her arms and let her mom pull her onto her lap.

"I was scared,” She mumbled, cuddling close.

Her mom ran her fingers through her hair and the familiar action comforted her, "I know baby."

"What happened?"

Her mom continued to run her fingers through her hair and it helped her slowly relax, "Someone didn't see the stop sign and ran through it. It was a stupid accident but it w _ as _ just an accident. Everyone's alright."

She knew that accidents happened but she couldn't help but feel a little angry at the person who had hit them. It had been really scary and she and her friend had been hurt.

"Jemma's okay?"

Her mom nodded against her, "She's alright. She had a concussion so she had to stay at the hospital with her mom but she'll be okay."

Skye sighed in relief, "I don't like accidents."

"I know baby, I know."


	7. Skye Gets Into a Car Accident Pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 of Skye Gets Into a Car Accident

Skye had latched onto her mom for the rest of the night and she had eventually lied down on her bed and whispered enough soothing words for her to fall back asleep. 

It wasn't a very restful sleep. She couldn't remember her exact dreams but she knew that they weren't very pleasant, and when she woke up, she still felt really tired and she was still cuddled close to her mom. She blinked a couple of times and pressed her face closer against her mom's neck, trying to forget about her dreams. Inhaling her mom's flowery scent and it helped make the aftereffects of her nightmares slowly disappear, and rubbing her necklace between her fingers helped even more. 

She took a deep breath and slowly turned around, moving slowly so that she didn't wake her mom up. When she turned around completely, she saw that her dad was awake and watching them. She glanced at the window and saw that it was still semi-dark outside; the sun was slowly starting to peek through the trees and was providing enough visibility for her to be able to see his face.

He looked way less worried than he did yesterday but she could still see his concern on his face. There were little wrinkles on his forehead where it was scrunched up and instead of smiling, his mouth was a straight line. When she caught his eye, his whole expression changed, and his worry seemed to disappear and he smiled at her. He leaned in and whispered, "Why don't we let Mommy sleep, okay? She was up pretty late last night."

Skye nodded, wiggled her way out of her mom’s grasp, and raised her arms to her dad. She caught sight of her cast and frowned unhappily; it was bulky and uncomfortable and a constant reminder of her accident.

She tore her gaze away from her cast when her dad gently lifted her from the bed and onto his lap. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and she tried to ignore the way her body ached when she settled against him. When she wrapped her arms around his neck, she was surprised at how much heavier her right arm felt compared to her left one. 

_ Stupid cast _ , she thought.

She didn't really remember leaving the hospital or arriving home, she must have slept through that, and she didn't know when someone changed her out of her clothes and into some pajamas. Thinking about the hospital upset her, so she shook that off and focused on how warm her dad was instead.

They stayed silent for a little while before he whispered, "How about a shower? You fell asleep before you could take one last night."

A shower sounded nice, so she nodded and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head before setting her on the ground, "Why don't you go turn the shower on and I'll grab you a change of clothes. Don't get in it though, we need to wrap up your cast."

She nodded again and made her way down the hall and into the bathroom. After leaning in to the shower turn the water on, she stepped up onto her little step stool so that she could see her reflection in the mirror. There was a bandage over the stitches on her forehead. It was a weird looking bandage and when she gently brushed her fingers over it, it felt more like plastic than a bandaid. She could see bruises peeking out of the collar of her pajama shirt and knew that they were from her seatbelt.

Her dad walked in with some clothes, a plastic bag, some tape, and a smile. He studied her for a second before setting everything down, crouching in front of her, and turning her so that they were face to face, "Your doctor said he put a waterproof bandage over your stitches and that we should try not to get them wet for forty-eight hours so I think it might be best to wash your hair over the sink. Plus, we've got to wrap up your cast so that it doesn't get wet."

Getting clean was going to be way harder than she thought.

He saw the expression on her face and smiled encouragingly, "Don't worry, we can do this."

To her surprise, it didn't take as long as she thought it would.

Her dad pulled up a stool and she leaned over the sink so that he could gently wash her hair. It was a little uncomfortable and her neck started to ache after awhile, but it wasn't that bad. He ran a wet washcloth over her face, avoiding her bandage, and wrapped up her cast before instructing her to not get her face wet in the shower and to just rinse her body off. She did as she was told and held her cast out of the shower so that he could support it for her while she washed herself with one arm. It was difficult but not impossible.

The worst part about showering was seeing the state that her body was in.

She had bruises on her shoulders, chest, and waist where her seatbelt had securely kept her strapped into her seat. They weren't terrible but they were pretty tender. She had some bruises scattered over her thighs and some scrapes on her shins and calves. That, combined with the stitches on her forehead and the cast on her arm, was enough to make her never want to get into a car again.

When she finished her shower, she stepped out and into the towel her dad was holding open for her. He was extra careful with drying her off, he made sure not to put any pressure on her bruises, and helped her get dressed after taking the plastic that was covering her cast off. He had to stretch her right shirt sleeve a little so that it would go over her cast and she made a face at how much bigger that sleeve looked compared to the other one. 

She turned around so that he could comb her hair and when he was finished, she looked up at him. She didn't know why, but everything seemed to catch up to her at this odd moment. Maybe it was seeing all of the bruises covering her body or maybe it was how gentle her dad was being compared to how violent the accident had been yesterday, but whatever triggered her tears, she couldn't stop them.

He knelt down on the floor and pulled her against his chest in a tight hug. She put her arms around him and he rubbed a soothing hand over her back and let her get tears all over his shirt. She wasn't sure what she was feeling, maybe a mixture of scared, angry, and shaken and she thought that she would have to ask Jay what the word was for all those feelings combined because Jay always knew how to help her figure out what she was feeling.

Her tears gradually slowed down and then stopped, so he leaned back a little and ran his thumbs over her cheeks, "Better?"

She nodded pitifully.

He leaned in to kiss her forehead, "It's okay sweetheart, it was just an accident. You're alright, it's not like the last time."

She nodded again and hugged herself close to him, sighing contently when he gently wrapped his arms around her and whispered soothing words, "You're okay sweetie, you're okay."

After a couple of minutes, she leaned back and looked up at him, "Is it okay if I just go in the car with you and Mommy from now on?"

"Yes, I think that that will be perfectly alright."

She gave him a wobbly smile and when he stood up, she grabbed his hand and he smiled back at her, "Let's go make some breakfast."

"Okay."

They made their way out of the bathroom and down the hall. Before she reached the staircase, she paused and looked up at her dad, "I forgot Alice. Can I go get her?"

"I'll go get everything ready in the kitchen.”

She untangled their hands and made her way back to her room, tiptoeing to her dollhouse and picking Alice up carefully. Glancing at her bed, she saw that her mom was still sleeping peacefully. She made her way over to her and pulled her sheets up and over her mom so that they were covering her completely. Leaning in, she gave her mom a kiss on the cheek and whispered, "I love you."

She made sure she was quiet as she exited her room and softly shut the door. As she walked down the hallway, she stopped in front of her sister's door. It wasn't closed all the way and she hadn’t seen her sister since breakfast the previous morning, so couldn't resist peeking into the room. 

After opening up the door, she took a second to admire the familiar frigid landscape painted on the outside of it, and stepped inside. It was still semi-dark in the room but because of the sun, she was able to see Nattie's sleeping form lying haphazardly on her bed. She tiptoed towards her sister, climbed onto her bed, sat down by Natasha, set Alice onto a vacant pillow, and studied her.

Nattie was lying on her side, facing her. Both arms were tucked under her pillow and one leg was under her covers while the other was blanket-free and stretched across the bed. Her face was relaxed and Skye absently thought that she looked very peaceful while she was sleeping.

She reached forward and gently pushed some hair out of Nattie's face and paused when her sister started to stir. 

Nattie slowly opened her eyes and when they focused on her, she quickly sat up, "Skye!"

She gave her sister a small smile and waved, forgetting about her dumb cast for a moment and frowning at it when she spotted it. Nattie immediately zeroed in on her purple cast.

Nattie quickly rubbed her eyes and then reached an arm out to caress Skye's face, moving her gaze from Skye's cast to the bandage covering the cut on her forehead "God, that looks… it looks terrible. Does it hurt?"

It didn't hurt as much as it did yesterday but it did ache when she accidently touched it or moved her forehead too much, so she just shrugged. Nattie gave her a look and Skye smiled at her, "It doesn't hurt that much, I promise."

Her sister made a sympathetic noise and pointed to her cast, "Look at you, with your cast and your giant bandage. What else hurts?"

She pulled her cast to her chest and looked away when she said, "Just some cuts and bruises. I'm okay though."

"I'm sorry Skye."

Jerking her head to look at her sister, she studied Nattie's face and scrunched up her nose, "Why are you sorry?"

Her sister looked guilty and Skye didn't like seeing her look so unsure of herself. Nattie ran a hand through her hair before looking her in the eyes, "I want to keep you safe but I'm not doing a very good job at it. I'm sorry маленькая звезда."

Skye was confused. She didn't know why Natasha thought that the accident was her fault; there was no way that Nattie could have known that she would have been hurt and it  _ definitely _ wasn't her fault, it was an accident. Her mom and dad and Jay all told her that accidents weren't anyone's fault, they were just accidents.

She reached forward and intertwined her pinky with her sister's, "It's not your fault Nattie."

"I'm your big sister and I'm supposed to keep you safe and happy and look at you! You have scrapes and bruises all over your body."

Skye shook her head and climbed into Natasha's lap. She untangled their pinkies so that she could wrap both arms around her neck and give her a hug, "I  _ am _ safe and happy."

Nattie let out a breath and finally Skye felt her sister wrap her arms around her, "I don't like seeing you hurt."

“I love you,” She said, hugging Nattie tighter and turning her head so that it was resting against her sister's shoulder and wasn't putting any pressure on her stitches.

Natasha placed a kiss to the top of her head before saying, "I love you too."

They sat in silence for a couple more minutes before Skye leaned back, "Daddy's making breakfast."

Her sister grinned at her, "Let's get some before Trip wakes up."

Smiling, she nodded happily at the thought of having a normal breakfast with her family.  Natasha climbed out of her bed and Skye stood up, grabbed Alice, and raised her arms. Her sister grinned at her before lifting her up, setting her on her hip, and walking out of the room. She wrapped her uninjured arm around Nattie's neck as they walked downstairs and into the kitchen.

Their dad was busy making chocolate chip pancakes and looked over as they entered the kitchen, "I was wondering where you wandered off to. I can't believe you're up this early Nat."

Natasha went to stand by their dad and Skye leaned over a little bit and grinned when she saw that the pancakes he was making had chocolate chip smiley faces in them.

* * *

 

Due to her injuries and how shaken up she was, she didn't go to school for a couple of days and she didn't even mind. She was perfectly content to stay at home with her parents and do absolutely nothing. Three days after her accident, she finally got her parents to allow her to go over and see Jemma. They hadn't let her see her until now because they said they she and her mom were still healing and Jemma wasn't supposed to be around a lot of commotion due to her concussion.

Her dad said that Jemma hadn't been allowed to watch tv, use a computer, or write for the past couple of days because the doctors didn't want her thinking too hard. Skye knew that Jemma would not like that very much, her friend  _ liked _ to think, and she wondered if Jemma was getting stir-crazy.

Her parents also said that Jemma was sleeping a lot and wasn't allowed to go to school for a whole week. That made her a little sad because she would have to go to school tomorrow and her best friend wouldn't be there with her.

Right now, she was walking next door with her mom. Her body was still kind of sore and she didn't feel like walking so she was contentedly resting in her mom's arm while they waited for someone to answer the doorbell. After a moment, the door opened up and Skye looked up at Jemma's mom, who had some bruises on her arms and was smiling nervously at them, "Hey guys, come in."

They entered Jemma's house and Skye looked around at the familiar surroundings. Their home was really neat but bright and obviously well loved, there were pictures hanging on the walls and it smelled like fresh flowers.

She turned her attention back to the grown-ups when she heard Jemma's mom say, "How are you Skye?"

"I'm okay. I have to go back to the doctors so that they can check my cast and my stitches though."

A pained look flitted across Jemma's mom's face and her mom set her down and gently patted her behind, "Why don't you go see Jemma?"

Jemma's mom straightened and pointed down a hallway, "Of course! You know where her room is.” 

Skye nodded and made her way down the hallway but paused when she heard Jemma's mom's voice again. They must not be able to see her, "I feel terrible. I barely have any scratches while our kids got the brunt of it. I'm so sorry Melinda."

She heard the rustling of clothes and her mom say, "It was an accident. Skye knows that and Phil and I know that."

She wandered down the hallway, found the second room on the left, twisted the doorknob, and peered inside, "Jemma?"

Her friend was sitting cross-legged on the middle of her bed. It was dim, with only the light of a lamp casting a faint glow around the room, and Skye squinted until her eyes adjusted. 

“Hi,” She said brightly, making her way over to the bed and climbing onto it.

Jemma smiled at her, "Hi."

She made herself comfortable on the bed and studied her friend, who looked super tired. She tilted her head and asked, "Are you okay?"

Her friend shrugged and it made Skye smile a little bit because that was how she had been responding every time someone asked her that, "My mommy said that you had a concussion. They told me that that means that you hurt your brain."

Jemma nodded and scooted closer to her, "Yeah, my head still hurts."

"They had to put stitches in my head and a cast on my wrist." She waved her injured wrist in the air so that Jemma could see and continued, "What'd they do to you?"

Her friend sighed and gave her a tired look, "I had to stay the night at the hospital and they woke me up every two hours. It was so mean."

Skye made an indignant sound, "That wasn't very nice!"

"That's what I said. They let me go home the next day and then I was allowed to sleep, so I slept  _ a lot _ . I wasn't allowed to watch Spongebob or anything so it's been kind of boring." Skye reached forward and squeezed her friends hand and Jemma kept talking, "The light hurts my eyes and my head so that's why it's so dark in here."

"I'm sorry Jemma."

Her friend studied her, "I'm sorry too. Can I sign your cast?"

She nodded and Jemma gave her instructions as to where she could find some permanent markers and she grabbed one. She settled herself back on Jemma's bed and handed her the marker before holding out her arm and watching as Jemma uncapped the marker and concentrated on writing on her cast.

After a second or two, Jemma made a frustrated sound and Skye was surprised to see that she was crying, "What's wrong?! Are you okay?"

Jemma looked up and Skye saw her teary eyes and her wobbly lip, "I can't spell right. Look! I spelled it wrong!"

Skye pulled her cast close to her face and looked at what Jemma had written, "Feel bitter, live Jemma."

She wasn't very good with her words, but she knew that "bitter," should be "better," and "live," should be "love." She scrunched up her face because even though she wasn't very good at spelling, Jemma _ was  _ and she never usually spelled words wrong.

Her friend was still crying and that was another strange thing. Jemma  _ never _ cried. One time, a girl in a different class had said some real mean things to Jemma and her friend hadn't even cried, she had just told the girl that she was being immature and walked away. Skye had gone up to the girl later and told her to stay away and never talk to Jemma again. She didn't know why something as small as some misspelled words would make Jemma cry but she didn't like it.

Immediately, she leaned forward and hugged her friend, "It's okay, I spell words wrong all the time."

Her friend was still crying but she managed to hiccup out, "I know h-how to spe-ell these words though!"

She combed her fingers through Jemma's hair and hoped that it was as comforting to her as it was when her mom did it to her.

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to be helping because Jemma kept crying. She was starting to feel flustered until she heard footsteps walking towards them. The door opened up and Jemma's mom rushed over to them with her mom right behind her, "What's wrong darling?"

Jemma didn't say anything so Skye did, "She spelled something wrong and it made her feel bad. It's okay though." She tried to defend her friend's strange actions even though she didn't understand them.

Jemma's mom sat beside her and Jemma leaned into her side. Skye sat back and Jemma's mom turned to her, "The doctor said that she might be a little overly emotional."

After the brief explanation, Jemma's mom focused back onto her daughter and started whispering into her ear.

Her mom walked up to her and rubbed circles onto her back, and she leaned into the touch and waited for Jemma to feel better.

After a minute or two, Jemma's mom gave them an apologetic look, "I'm sorry but she's pretty tired. I think she's going to take a nap." Jemma's face was still pressed against her mom's neck but she saw her nod along to what her mom was saying.

Her mom made an understanding noise, "Of course, I hope you feel better Jemma."

Jemma turned so that they could see her face and Skye was relieved to see that she had stopped crying and was giving them a wobbly smile, "Bye."

"Bye, feel better,” Skye said, leaning in to give Jemma a kiss on the cheek.

"You too."

Jemma's mom moved to show them out but her mom told her they could do it themselves so that Jemma wouldn't have to be left alone.

They walked outside, pinkies intertwined, and Skye gave her mom a worried look, "Is Jemma going to be okay?"

"She's going to be fine baby. Concussions and other head injuries are a little tricky but she'll be okay."

Skye thought about it and looked into her mom's face, "We'll all be okay."

Her mom squeezed her pinky a little tighter and gave her a smile.


	8. Skye Loses Her First Tooth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Skye Loses Her First Tooth

Skye panicked when she felt her front tooth start to wiggle. She was eating apple slices and when she had bitten into one, her top right front tooth had felt wobbly. She had winced, it had hurt a little, and made sure to carefully take the apple out of her mouth.

Setting the half-bitten apple slice back onto her plate, she reached up to investigate. She gingerly put a small amount of pressure on her tooth and couldn't help but gasp when it moved a little bit. She didn't really think teeth were supposed to do that.

Completely forgetting about her dolls, she got up from her place in front of her dollhouse and tried to keep her alarm at bay. None of her teeth had ever been loose before. Some kids in her class had missing teeth but Skye had never really paid attention when they had talked about how they’d gone missing. No one had explained to her about what would happen when she finally started to lose her teeth so she didn't know if this was what was supposed to happen.

She ran out of her room, down the stairs, and into the kitchen. Her dad was in there making dinner while Nattie and her mom were sitting at the table in the dining room. She ran up to her dad and tugged on his hand until he pulled his attention away from the cutting board and looked at her.

"Daddy, I think my tooth is broken,” She said breathlessly, gingerly touching her tooth with her tongue.

He gave her a confused look and set his knife down on the counter before crouching down, "Let me have a look."

She smiled real big so that he could see her teeth and anxiously waited as he studied her mouth and then shook his head, "I don't see any broken teeth. Which one are you talking about sweetheart?"

She lifted her hand and pointed to her top right tooth, "It's this one."

He studied it and shook his head again again, "I don't see anything wrong with it. Why do you think it's broken?"

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she gently pushed her tooth back with her finger and then crossed her arms over her chest, "See? I don't think teeth are supposed to do that."

He chuckled and stood up so that Skye had to tilt her head up so that she could see him,  "It's not broken, it's just loose."

"Is it supposed to be loose?" She asked, scrunching up her nose in confusion.

Her dad nodded and reached down to set her on the counter so that he could talk to her while chopping up the vegetables they were going to eat for dinner, "Yes, you still have all your baby teeth. They'll get loose and then fall out."

"All of them?!"

"Yep, everyone's baby teeth fall out."

Skye didn't really like the idea of her teeth falling out of her mouth when she was pretty sure that they were supposed to be  _ in _ her mouth. From her perch on the counter, she started swinging her legs back and forth, "Are you being for real?"

He finished chopping up the vegetables and looked over to her, "I'm for real."

She let out a disgruntled sound and carefully hopped off the counter, not happy with what she was hearing. She made her way over to the dining room table and wiggled her way in between Nattie and her mom's chairs. She sighed dramatically, "My tooth is going to fall out of my mouth."

They both jerked their heads to look at her and gave her big smiles. She unsuccessfully attempted to raise an eyebrow and her mom reached forward to brush her bangs out of her eyes, "Congratulations baby."

Skye frowned. She didn't know why she was being congratulated, she didn't even  _ want _ her tooth to be loose.

"I want my teeth to stay where they are,” She exclaimed, shaking her head and pouting.

Her mom laughed and Nattie poked her arm, "Yeah, but at least you'll get a visit from the Tooth Fairy."

Skye quickly turned to look at her sister, "What?"

Natasha gave her a startled look, "You've never heard of the Tooth Fairy?"

She vigorously shook her head and absentmindedly climbed into her mom's lap. She felt her mom wrap her arms around her waist but kept her focus on her sister, "No. Is it a  _ real _ fairy?"

"Yes, she's a  _ magical _ fairy. Once you lose your tooth, you put it under your pillow and the Tooth Fairy comes and takes it and leaves money for you."

"That's her  _ job _ ? She's just going to give me money for a tooth?" Skye asked doubtfully, not sure if she believed her sister or not.

Natasha nodded but Skye still didn't know if she believed her, so she looked up to her mom, "Is she telling the truth?"

She nodded and took one hand away from Skye's waist to reach up and brush her hair out of her eyes, "She's telling the truth."

It was difficult to wrap her head around the fact that there was a fairy out there who would give you money for your teeth. What did she do with the teeth? Where did she get all her money? What color were her wings?

"Why does she want my teeth?" She asked, leaning back against her mom’s chest.

She felt her mom shrug, "I don't really-"

Skye cut her off, "Where does she get her money from? How much is a tooth worth?"

Natasha chuckled and her mom tried to answer, "Well, maybe she has -"

Skye cut her off again, "Where does she live? What color are her wings? She  _ can _ fly, right? Does she have helpers like Santa does?"

Her mom inhaled deeply, "I'm not sure Skye, no one's ever seen her. She only comes when you're asleep."

Skye thought about that. She had a lot of questions and she wanted them answered and if her mom couldn't answer them for her, she would just have to ask the Tooth Fairy herself.

* * *

 

Skye's tooth was just being stubborn. 

It had been a week and her tooth wasn't falling out even though she had been wiggling it every chance she got. It was still there, mocking her.

She had been messing with it so frequently that now it would bend backwards and Skye could see that when it finally fell out, there would be a hole in her mouth. Her tooth was literally hanging by a thread but she was too afraid to yank it out herself, so she was waiting for it to fall out on its own.

While she was annoyed that her tooth was still in her mouth, her favorite thing to do was push it with her tongue and gross her siblings out. She would smile at them and then push the tooth forward and wiggle it around. They  _ hated _ it. Nattie would make a disgusted face but Trip was absolutely repulsed by it. She liked to do it at dinner when he was least expecting it. It was fun.

She had been wiggling her tooth around all week and nothing was working. Fitz had suggested just yanking it out while Jemma said that she should eat a lot of apples because her tooth could get stuck in it. Since she was completely against pulling her tooth out, she had taken Jemma's advice. She had eaten a ridiculous amount of apples this week, and she was currently eating one right now.

Her dad was helping her with her homework and had made her a plate of sliced apples. She would eat a slice between each math problem, and after taking a bite, she would then poke her tooth with her tongue to see if it was still there. It was disheartening to find that that it always was.

Of course  _ her _ teeth didn't want to fall out. Jemma had gotten a loose tooth three days ago and it had a _ lready _ fallen out. She had said that the Tooth Fairy gave her a whole dollar for her tooth. Skye wanted money, what kid didn't, but she wanted to talk to the Tooth Fairy even more. She had a lot of questions that she needed answered.

Absentmindedly, she bit into an apple while her dad explained a math problem to her. She froze when she felt a tug and quickly took the half-bitten apple out of her mouth. A high-pitched squeal escaped her when she saw her small tooth stuck in her snack. She poked her tongue around and felt a hole where her tooth used to be. It felt weird and a little tender so she pulled her tongue back and smiled up at her dad, "I lost my tooth!"

He looked over and she practically shoved her tooth-filled apple in his face. He chuckled and examined the apple, "I'll go grab a Ziploc bag. You can put your tooth in there so you won't lose it."

She nodded and watched him walk into the kitchen before focusing back on her apple and carefully tugging her tooth out of it. She made sure that she didn't drop it and held it securely in her hand until he came back with the bag. She gingerly placed her tooth into the bag and then immediately ran up to her room because she wanted to put it under her pillow right away so that there was no way that she would lose it.

Her plan was to pretend to fall asleep and then stay awake until the Tooth Fairy showed up. After that, she wasn't really sure. Maybe she could convince her to stay and talk. She didn't know how many other kids had lost their teeth and were waiting for the Tooth Fairy on the same night so she hoped that she had time to talk to her.

She went back downstairs and tried to focus on finishing her homework with her dad, but  he had to keep reminding her to focus. She wanted it to be nighttime so that she could see the Tooth Fairy.

She had finally finished her homework and was watching t.v. with her dad. She was snuggled close to his side when she heard the front door open and saw her mom and siblings walk in with a bunch of grocery bags. They had gone to the store to get food and Skye had been eagerly waiting for them to come back so she could tell them about her tooth.

Immediately, she hopped off the couch and ran over to them. They were walking to the kitchen and setting the bags down on the counter, so she ran in, smiled real big, and pointed to where her tooth used to be, "Look!"

Trip and Natasha both instinctually turned away and Trip said, "Skye, haven't you tortured us enough with that tooth? Give us a break!"

Skye giggled, "No look! It's gone!" 

Her mom crouched down in front of her, "It looks like someone's getting a visit from the Tooth Fairy tonight!"

"I know! I'm so excited!"

Her mom laughed and stood up so that Trip and Natasha had room to see her missing tooth. They both congratulated her before moving back to help put the food away.

Her mom set her on the counter and pulled out her phone, "Smile sweetie."

Skye did as she was told and heard the camera shutter as she took a picture. Her mom studied her phone and grinned, "Adorable."

Skye tugged on Her dad's sleeve for the fifth time, "Is it bedtime yet?"

She had eaten dinner, taken a shower, brushed her teeth, and now she had been bugging her parents about bedtime. She had to admit, normally she would ignore her bedtime until she was told that she needed to go to sleep, so this was weird behavior for her.

"Are you sleepy?" He asked.

"Yes,” She said quickly, faking an over-the-top yawn.

Her mom grinned knowingly at her, "I know a little girl who wants to be visited by the Tooth Fairy."

Skye couldn't help but smile back, "Yeah, but she won't come over until I'm asleep so I have to go to sleep now."

"If you're ready for bed, then it can be bedtime. Do you want us to read you a story?" Her dad asked. 

Skye nodded and they followed her up to her room, tucked her in, and read her a story. Her eyelids started to droop but she forced herself to stay awake as her parents kissed her goodnight and made sure she was comfy before shutting off her light, turning on her nightlight, and shutting her door halfway. Now all she needed to do was pretend to be asleep so that the Tooth Fairy would appear.

She snuggled into her blankets, pulled Alice to her chest, and turned to her side. She didn't know if the Tooth Fairy would use the door or go through her window so she decided to face to window for part of the night and the door for the other part.

She stared at her window and refused to fall asleep, determined to catch to Tooth Fairy. Maybe they could be friends.

* * *

 

There was soft light peeking through her window and she woke up. It was still fairly dark outside and Skye could see the sun starting to poke through the trees. As she started to become more aware, she blinked heavily and then jerked awake. 

She had accidentally fallen asleep!

She hastily threw her blankets off of her and threw her pillow to the ground, gasping when she found a dollar where her tooth had been. She quickly picked it up and saw that there was pink glitter all over it.

Groaning, she berated herself for falling asleep and missing her chance to see the Tooth Fairy.

She kept her dollar in her fist, got out of her bed, looked around her room, and saw something sparkling by her windowsill. Squinting at it, she rushed over to her window to find a trail of pink glitter scattered across her windowsill. Her six-year-old brain thought it was completely logical that the Tooth Fairy must have gotten into her room through there. She looked around and saw more clusters of pink glitter around her room. There was some on her desk, on her bedside table, and on her dollhouse. 

Excitement had her moving quickly as she ran around her room investigating the glitter. 

The Tooth Fairy had flown all around her room before taking her tooth and giving her money. Skye was kind of sad that she had fallen asleep, she really wanted to meet a real fairy, but that was shadowed by her excitement that  _ a real fairy had been in her room _ .

With her dollar clutched tightly in her fingers, she ran downstairs to share the news. She could hear her dad singing to himself in the kitchen so she ran over to him and waved her dollar at him, "Look Daddy! The Tooth Fairy gave me a dollar!"

She jumped at him and he easily caught her before lifting her up, setting her on his hip, and grinning at her, "Let me see!"

She eagerly handed him the glittery dollar bill and watched as he inspected it thoroughly before giving it back to her, "I've seen this glitter before. It's definitely the Tooth Fairy."

Skye squealed and carefully pulled the dollar close to her chest so she wouldn't lose it.

Like every other day, she stayed with her dad while he made breakfast, but today she couldn’t stop smiling and wiggling in excitement, eager for her mom or siblings to wake up so that she could show them her dollar. 

Finally, her mom wandered into the kitchen and Skye straightened up and grinned at her, "The Tooth Fairy gave me a dollar!"

Her mom gasped and walked over to her, "A whole dollar? She must really like you! Let me see."

Skye waved the dollar in her face and let her grab onto it and inspect it. Nattie walked in behind her, rubbing her eyes and looking like she was still half asleep. Skye turned to her, "Nattie look! The Tooth Fairy gave me a dollar!"

Natasha made her way over and plucked her dollar out of their mom's hands, "Would you look at that. The Tooth Fairy was very nice to you Skye, she only gave me fifty cents for my teeth."

Nat gave their mom a mysterious look but Skye didn't even catch it, she was too busy reaching for her dollar. Nattie handed it to her and she pulled it close to her chest, "Yeah, I wanted to catch her though."

"Maybe next time sweetheart,” Her mom said, leaning forward and kissing her forehead.

Skye nodded and started poking her teeth with her tongue to see if any of them were loose. She  _ was _ going to catch the Tooth Fairy.


	9. Skye's First Holiday Season With the Coulson's

Skye was eagerly wiggling around on the couch, anxiously waiting for Wanda, Pietro, and her dad to get back from the airport, and it was taking  _ forever _ . She had really wanted to go with her dad to pick up her siblings but they were flying in during the middle of the school day and it was the last day before her winter break so she wasn't allowed to miss it.

Nattie was sitting behind her, braiding and re-braiding her hair, while they waited. Her mom was in the dining room going over some papers from work and Trip was upstairs in his room, both were much calmer than she currently was. She couldn't keep still or focus on the tv screen in front of her but Nattie didn't seem to mind too much that she squirming.

The door burst open and Pietro walked in and held his hands above his head, “Your favorite brother has arrived.” 

She squealed, scrambled off the couch, and ran towards him. He grinned at her and held his arms open so that when she jumped at him, he easily caught her and twirled her around. She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck, "I missed you!"

He laughed and hugged her tight before setting her on his hip and leaning forward to hug Natasha, "I missed you too little one."

She looked over his shoulder in time to see Wanda and her dad walk through the door behind him. Eagerly, she reached towards her sister and wiggled around until Pietro transferred her into Wanda's arms. Her sister placed a big kiss on her cheek and smiled widely at her, "Hey little monkey."

It felt so good to have her whole family together again, and she let out a content sigh as she wrapped herself around Wanda. 

"You guys are going to be here for a whole month right?"

Wanda gave her a reassuring smile, "A little longer than a month actually."

"Yay!"

Pietro came up beside her and gave her a disappointed look, "Skye, why are there no decorations up yet?"

She scrunched up her nose and indignantly stated, "It was just Thanksgiving!"

"That's just not a good enough excuse. Come on little one, we need to brighten the place up."

He waved his hands at her and she leaned over so that he could grab her out of Wanda's arms. They started walking upstairs with Wanda and Nattie trialing after them. She heard her dad shout from downstairs, "You haven't even put away your bags yet! Guys?"

The twins laughed and continued walking up the stairs and down the hall, only stopping when they were standing below the attic door. Skye gulped; the attic was scary and she had never been up there before.

Pietro set her down and looked at all of them, "You guys wait down here, I'll grab the decorations and hand ‘em down."

She sighed in relief and watched as he tugged on the string and a flight of stairs appeared. He walked up them and disappeared into the attic.

At the noise, Trip poked his head out of his room and smiled at them before jogging over and giving Wanda a hug, "What’re you guys doing?"

Nattie pointed towards where Pietro had disappeared, "He couldn't wait five minutes before deciding that the house was under-decorated and he needed to change that."

"What's your guys' deal with decorations?" Trip asked her.

Her oldest sister shrugged and smiled, "Everything looks so happy and bright during the holidays. Our mom and dad used to drive us around at night so that we could see all the lights."

Skye grabbed onto Wanda's hand and intertwined their pinkies. She didn't know if talking about Wanda's real parents would make her sad but she didn't look upset, she looked like she was thinking about a happy memory.

"Isn't putting decorations up fun?" Wanda asked her, lightly squeezing her pinky.

She shrugged noncommittally. She had never been  _ that _ into Christmas. Sure, the songs were catchy and the lights were beautiful but the nuns always made them go to a really long church service and the one holiday that she had spent with a foster family, she was too young to remember. They always got a new toy though and they were allowed to hang up some ornaments on the Christmas tree so it wasn't  _ that _ bad, it was just hard to have a fun Christmas in an orphanage.

Wanda was about to say something when Pietro carefully climbed back down the stairs with two boxes stacked on top of each other. He jumped to the ground and grinned at them, "Let's do this."

As soon as he opened the boxes up, everyone reached in and grabbed stuff and then they went  _ crazy _ .

Wanda and Pietro were  _ experts _ at decorating. In under an hour, they had tinsel wrapped around the staircase, lights hanging around the bookshelf in the living room, little figurines placed all around the house, a wreath on the door, a happy-looking paper Santa hanging on the playroom door, and snow globes on every table and flat surface.

Everything looked so bright and happy and Skye could feel excitement starting to seep into her. She always tried not to get her hopes up around the holidays because she was usually let down, but she had a feeling that this year would be different.

* * *

 

They were going to get a Christmas tree to put in their living room. Skye had never really understood why people put trees in their house to celebrate Christmas but she liked decorating it and it smelled good so she didn't question it out loud.

Currently, they were wandering around a tree farm and it was pretty chilly outside. She was wrapped up tight in her blue jacket and white beanie but she didn't object when her dad picked her up and cuddled her close to keep her warm. They had been walking around for about ten minutes and no one could agree on a tree. Pietro and Trip wanted a  _ huge _ tree but her dad didn't think that they would be able to safely transport it home. Her sisters wanted a perfectly symmetrical, mid-sized tree and her mom didn't seem to have a preference. Skye was happy to just sit back and watch.

Some of her happiness started to fade a little bit when her family went from friendly bickering to exasperated fighting.

They were standing in front of two trees. Her brothers were pointing at the tall, thin tree and her sisters were defensively standing in front of a fat tree that was about as tall as their dad.

Pietro was pointing to her sisters' tree, "That doesn't say Christmas! This," He pointed to his tall tree, "says Christmas! Look at it! Imagine how many ornaments we can fit onto this bad  boy!"

Nattie crossed her arms, "That won't even fit in our living room!"

"It'll fit,” Trip stated confidently.

Wanda rolled her eyes, "Barely."

Pietro stood in front of her sisters' tree and gave it a dirty look, "Our tree is better than yours."

Skye shook her head and scrunched up her nose; she just wanted everyone to be happy again. In an attempt to end the bickering, she randomly pointed to a tree and raised her voice so that everyone could hear her, "Let's get that one!"

Everyone turned to her and then to where she was pointing. The unimpressed looks on their faces caused her to look over to the tree she was pointing to and tilt her head. It was a smallish tree and its branches weren't exactly  _ full _ , but it was cute.

Her mom reached over and straightened her beanie so that it didn’t slip over her eyes, "You want that one?"

Even though her tree really wasn’t that impressive, she had to stick to it, so she shrugged, "Yeah."

Trip gave her a look that clearly said that he thought she was a little crazy, "That sad little tree?"

She felt herself start to grow defensive; it wasn't a  _ bad _ tree and there was nothing wrong with it. She unwrapped her arms from her dad’s neck and crossed them over her chest indignantly, "Yes, and it's not sad Trip."

They walked closer to her small tree and huddled around it. Nattie examined it and sighed, "It's alright. It might even look good with some lights and decorations."

Skye nodded and smiled proudly. Her tree was cute.

Her brothers weren't convinced though and Pietro spoke up, "Skye, there are  _ loads _ of better trees around here."

She shook her head and dug her heels in, "No, what's wrong with this tree?"

"It's small and crooked and there are some better trees that we can choose instead."

Skye frowned. She was small and she knew that her parents could have chosen any other kid to foster instead of her but they had chosen her and she was going to do the same thing for this sad little tree. With her mind completely made up, she shook her head vehemently and stated, "This tree needs a home and I like it. We can give it a home, right Daddy?"

Phil leaned in to kiss her cheek, "Of course we can sweetheart,” Her dad said, leaning in to place a kiss on her beanie-clad forehead.

And that was how they ended up taking home the saddest, scrawniest looking tree in the whole tree farm.

They stood it up in the living room and put lights and decorations all over it. She proudly hung up the ornament that she had made in Ms. Hill's class in the direct center and her dad lifted her up so that she could put the star on top of the tree.

When they were finished, they all stepped back and admired their work.

The tree was decorated with blue and white lights and silver tinsel. It was loaded with ornaments, some were store bought and some were handmade and had pictures or drawings on them. The star on the top was silver and had intricate designs in the center of it. You could still see some of the bare-patches where there were some missing branches but Skye thought that that just added character. She liked her tree.

She smiled and looked up at her family, "Well?"

Wanda grinned at her, "It looks great.”

Her mom, dad, Nattie and Trip nodded in agreement. She turned to Pietro and gave him a questioning look. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and smiled at her, "You know what? I was wrong. This is the perfect tree for us."

She smiled back at him, turned back to her tree, and admired it. She was happy that she had chosen the sad, broken little tree and she was glad that her family liked it too.

* * *

 

Her parents wanted her to make a list of all the things that she wanted for Christmas and it was making her anxious. It just seemed kind of  _ wrong _ to write down a bunch of toys that she wanted when she had everything she needed right in front of her.

Skye was staring at her blank sheet of paper while her mom and dad were both sitting across from her at the table, looking at some papers for work. She twirled her pencil around in her fingers and rested her chin in her palm. After giving her piece of paper another long look, she sighed when nothing came to mind. 

Her mom looked up and saw that she wasn't writing anything, "Come on Skye, we need to send that list to Santa so that he knows what you want."

She nodded and stared more intensely at her piece of paper, but no matter how hard she concentrated, she couldn’t figure out what to write. She had Alice and Mara and all of her other doll friends, all the crayons and coloring books she could ask for, a whole playroom full of toys for her to play with, and her family had built her her own playground in the backyard. She couldn't think of anything else that she needed and it was such a drastic change from last year's Christmas.

Last year, she had just wanted a family. That was all that she had wished for and Santa had given it to her, even if he had been a little late. Now she had a family, a mommy and daddy and brothers and sisters,  _ and  _ a whole bunch of toys. She was very happy with everything she had right now.

Her mom was still staring at her and finally broke the silence, "Don't you know what you want for Christmas?"

"I have everything I want."

Both of her parents smiled at her and her dad set his paper down, "You can't think of anything for Santa to bring you?"

She shook her head and her mom gave her dad a look, "He'll just have to surprise you now, won't he?"

Skye nodded and abandoned her seat in favor of her mom's lap. She grabbed her hands and wrapped them around her waist, "I asked for a family last Christmas and now I have you guys."

Her mom tightened her hold on her and leaned down so that she was gently resting her chin on top of her head, "We are very very lucky that Santa gave you what you wanted."

* * *

 

Skye's favorite part of the month was the gingerbread house contest.

She had never heard of such a thing until her mom had called everyone into the dining room and she had seen five different gingerbread house kits laid out on the table.

"What's this?" She asked as she sat down, wide-eyed and eager.

Her mom smiled at her, "Every year we see who can make the best gingerbread house."

Wanda clapped her hands together, "You're looking at last year's winner."

Skye grinned and looked at the supplies in front of her. There was frosting in tubes, pieces of gingerbread that was supposed to build the structure of a house, and candy. As she took in all the sugary supplies, she felt herself start to grow excited. She had never built a gingerbread house before but it sounded fun and she wanted to win this competition.

Everyone got to work and Skye used some frosting to glue her house. She patiently held the walls of her house together until they dried so that it wouldn't fall over. She learned how to do that when she made houses out of popsicle sticks in art class.

Apparently Trip never got that memo because the walls to his gingerbread house kept falling over and were becoming a sticky, sugary mess.

When she finished her outline of the house, she got to have some fun and started to decorating it.

She outlined a door and windows with frosting and did her best to make zigzag patterns on the roof. She placed candy on the outside of her house to make it look like a candy-garden and even frosted in a smiling gingerbread man.

It had required a lot of patience to work with frosting and candy, but once everything looked like how she wanted it to, she leaned back and admired her work.

At the sound of a dramatic groan from one of her brothers, she glanced up and laughed at what she saw.

Trip's walls were covered in frosting and he had given up on trying to make it a traditional house shape and instead had forced it into the shape of a haphazard triangle. Nattie had forfeited halfway through and was now casually eating her candy while watching everyone else create their houses. Wanda's house was really pretty and Skye thought that she did a really good job with decorating it. Her oldest sister was poking fun at Pietro's house, which had smudged frosting all over it from where he had brushed against it with his arm on accident, causing the groan from before.

She watched as her mom walked over and examined her house, "Wow you did a great job baby."

"Thanks Mommy. We make popsicle houses all the time in art class."

"It looks like it's between you and Wanda this year."

She nodded happily and watched her mom walk over and inspect Wanda's gingerbread house.

Her mom nodded seriously and made a thoughtful face before saying, "I think we have a tie!"

Skye squealed, walked over to Wanda, climbed onto her lap, and wrapped one arm around her neck, "I like your gingerbread house, it's really pretty."

"Thanks little monkey. Yours is very pretty too. How about next year we team up and make the best house ever?"

Skye nodded excitedly and eagerly took the piece of candy that Nattie was offering her.

* * *

 

It was a cold, rainy day and  the holiday season was in full swing, and Skye was waiting in line at the mall with Natasha, Wanda, and her mom. They all went out for some girl time to watch a movie and had seen that Santa had been in town and her mom had insisted that she get a picture with him.

She was settled safely in Nattie's arms and waiting in line with a bunch of other little kids. There were a lot of people walking around the mall right now and you could see the excitement in the air, but all the hussle and bussle put her on edge. Her mom said that it was because people were shopping for last minute gifts.

"How come Santa is here and not at the North Pole?" She asked her mom.

"Because all of the kids need to tell him what they want for Christmas so that he knows what to bring them."

"What do I tell him? I don't know what I want."

Wanda nudged her and suggested, "Why don't you tell him you want a new doll so that Mara and Alice could have a new friend?"

Her dolls  _ did _ like getting new friends… "Okay."

They moved up in the line until finally they were next. Nattie set her down while her mom talked to the bored looking elf that was managing the line and taking the children up to see Santa. She looked up at Santa and was a little anxious about going up there all by herself.

As if sensing her thoughts, Nattie reached down and intertwined their pinkies, "It'll be okay, we'll be waiting for you right here."

Skye nodded and gave her sister a grateful smile.

The elf ushered her forward and Skye looked back to her mom, who gave her an encouraging smile, and then took a deep breath, walked towards Santa.

The elf placed her on Santa's lap and he smiled at her, "Hello, what's your name?"

Skye gave him an unconvincing look, "I know you aren't the real Santa." Fake Santa looked surprised for a moment and Skye kept on talking, "I'm just pretending because it makes my mommy happy but I know that the real Santa is up at the North Pole making presents for us. You're just here to tell him what all us kids want for Christmas because he's too busy to do it himself."

Fake Santa chuckled, "You got me. Santa sent me here so that I could tell him what you want for Christmas, so tell me, what is it that you're wishing for?"

She shook her head, "I don't need anything but can you tell Santa thank you for me?"

"For what?" Fake Santa asked, looking comically confused.

She gave him a stern look at the question. She didn't know Fake Santa and she didn't trust him enough to tell him that she was thanking the real Santa for giving her her family. She didn't even know where her courage to talk to this stranger was coming from, probably from the fact that he was working for Santa and she liked him, "He'll know what for, that's between me and Santa."

Fake Santa held up his hands, "You got it. What's your name so that I can tell him?"

"It's Skye."

The elf waved her hands and caught Skye's attention, "Smile for the camera."

She smiled real big and a flash momentarily blinded her. Once her vision returned to normal, she hopped off of Fake Santa's lap and turned back to him, "Don't forget alright?"

He crossed his heart, "I promise."

She nodded and made her way back to her family.

* * *

 

On Christmas Eve, she made cookies with her parents after dinner.

Her siblings were in the living room watching old Christmas movies while she was sitting on the counter watching her mom and dad transfer the freshly baked cookies from the hot pan to the cooling rack.

Nervously, she swung her legs back and forth, "Santa likes chocolate chip cookies, right?"

"Santa likes every cookie but chocolate chip is his favorite,” Her dad said while giving her a reassuring pat on the knee.

"Good."

She twirled a strand of her hair around her finger and looked over to her mom, "Do you think he'll know that I live here now? Last Christmas I was at the orphanage."

Her mom eyed her for a moment before she walked towards her and stood between her legs. She untangled Skye's hair from around her finger and gave her a smile, "I'm sure he will baby, Santa knows everything."

She nodded absentmindedly, "Do you think I was nice enough this year?"

Both of her parents laughed and she gave them a look that told them that she wasn't joking. Their faces sobered and her mom kissed her forehead, "You've been a very good girl and Santa knows that."

Skye nodded again, this time with a little more confidence, and hoped that her mom was right.

She leaned into her mom's chest and watched as Pietro wandered into the kitchen and reached for a cookie. "Wait! Those are for Santa!" She yelled, holding out a hand to stop him from grabbing one.

"Santa's going to eat all of these?"

She didn't really know how much Santa ate. There were  _ a lot _ of cookies and she didn't think that he would be able to eat all of them by himself, "Um, I don't know. How much does Santa eat?"

Her dad pulled out a plate from the cabinet and set four cookies onto it, "I think these will be good enough for him. We can all share the rest."

This time when her brother reached for a cookie, she let him, and her eyes widened in surprise when he shoved the whole thing into his mouth. She giggled and he looked over to her, "What's so funny?" At least, that's what she  _ thought _ he said, his mouth was so full that his words were all muffled.

She giggled again and pointed, "You put that whole cookie in your mouth!"

Pietro chewed and swallowed before grabbing another cookie. This time he took a reasonably sized bite and grinned at her, "Come on little one, let's go watch a movie."

The offer was inviting but she shook her head, "I want to go to sleep."

Her parents and brother both gave her startled looks. Her mom even reached out and put a hand to her forehead, "Hm, no fever. Are you feeling alright?"

Skye laughed and brushed her mother's hand off of her forehead, "Yeah."

Pietro glanced at the clock, "You still have an hour 'til bedtime, you know that right?"

"Yeah, but the faster I go to sleep, the sooner it'll be Christmas."

Her brother thought that over and shrugged as her dad walked over and lifted her from the counter, "You can go to sleep  _ after _ you take a shower and brush your teeth."

She nodded eagerly and tugged on her mom's hand so that they could go get ready for bed.

* * *

 

After tossing and turning for most of the night, it felt like Skye had just fallen asleep when she jerked awake and sat up in bed. When she looked out her window, she saw that it was still really dark, so she must have woken up earlier than usual.

She pushed her blankets off of her and ran out of her room so fast that she forgot to grab Alice and Mara from her bed. She skipped down the hall and eagerly opened her parent's bedroom door, peered inside, and saw that there were both still sleeping. On her tiptoes, she made her way over to her dad’s side of the bed and stared at his sleeping face. He was lying on his side facing her and one arm was hanging off the side of the bed.

"Daddy! It's Christmas!" She said, poking his cheek roughly.

He groaned and squeezed his eyes shut, "Too early."

She poked his cheek again, "Come on Daddy, it's Christmas!"

"Go tell Mommy," He mumbled, turning his face so that it was hidden by his pillow. 

Skye indignantly scrunched her nose up at him before making her way over to her mom's side of the bed. This time, she climbed onto the bed and climbed onto her mom so that she could lean over her face, "Mommy! It's Christmas."

Her mom opened up one eye and glanced at her before shutting it. Her voice was gravely when she said, "It's very early baby."

She huffed, "But it's C _ hristmas _ !" She didn't think that they understood the severity of the situation.

Her mom's eyes stayed shut and she covered her face with an arm, "Go tell Daddy."

She let out a frustrated breath and climbed off of the bed. It didn’t seem like she was going to get the reaction that she wanted and she needed reinforcements.

She wandered down the hallway and opened up Nattie's door. Both of her sisters were sleeping in Nattie's bed because her dad still hadn't put two beds into the guest room for when Wanda and Pietro were home from school. He kept saying that he was going to renovate and add some more rooms to the house but he obviously kept forgetting about it because it still hadn't happened. 

She felt no hesitation as she walked up to the bed and climbed onto it. Even then, she knew that Natasha didn't like waking up in the morning so she focused on Wanda instead.

Leaning over her oldest sister's face, she gingerly poked her cheek, "Wanda, it's Christmas."

She poked her sister's cheek again and watched as Wanda woke up. She groaned, reached up to rub her eyes, and then opened them. They focused on her and Wanda gave her a sleepy smile, "Hey little monkey."

She grinned because  _ finally _ someone was listening to her.

"It's Christmas but Mommy and Daddy won't wake up. Will you help me?"

"'Course I will,” Wanda said as she slowly sat up.

Wanda glanced over to Natasha's sleeping form, "Maybe  _ you _ should wake her up. She's not very happy when I do it."

Skye smiled, crawled over to Nattie, straddled her stomach, and poked her cheek, "Nattie, wake up."

She had to poke Natasha a couple more times before the redhead let out a whimper and slowly opened her eyes, "There's no way it's morning already."

"It's morning and it's Christmas!"

Her sister turned her head and glanced at the clock that was resting on her bedside table. She made a surprised sound and turned back to her, "Skye! It's barely five o'clock! This does  _ not _ count as the morning."

She shrugged and Nattie tried to close her eyes and go back to sleep but Skye wouldn't let her. She reached down and tickled Natasha's sides and her sister's eyes popped back open, "You play dirty."

"I'm sorry but Mommy and Daddy won't wake up."

Wanda stood up and motioned her forward, "Come on little monkey, we can go wake them up. Let her sleep a little longer."

She sighed and climbed off of her sister and the bed. She took Wanda's hand and was about to walk out the door when she heard a reluctant groan, "Wait, I'm coming."

Skye smiled and squealed, pleased with how this had turned out. They all walked down the hallway and Wanda motioned towards Trip and Pietro's room, "I'll wake up these two while you go wake up mom and dad."

Nattie quickly intertwined their pinkies and kept walking towards their mom and dad's room as Wanda peeled away from them. The redhead leaned down and whispered, "Wanda's going to have a terrible time trying to wake those two up. We got off easy."

She nodded and shouldered their way into their parent's room. Her dad’s face was still hidden by his pillow and her mom had turned onto her side.

Mercilessly, Natasha flicked on the light switch and she squinted at the sudden brightness. Both of her parents groaned and Nattie lifted her up so that she was standing on the bed, "It's super early but we're all up and waiting on you guys."

Her parents snuggled deeper into their blankets and Nattie gave her a look, "Skye, you know what to do."

She smiled and started jumping up and down on the bed, "Mommy, Daddy, it's wake-up time!"

She jumped up and down until two hands snaked out from underneath the blankets and held her still. Her dad pulled her forward and trapped her arms by her side, "Okay, we're up."

Smiling happily, she waited for both of her parents to climb out of bed before tugging on their hands and leading them downstairs. About halfway down the staircase, she stopped short and her mouth fell open in surprise.

Her brothers and Wanda were already sitting on the ground waiting for them. They had turned on some lights and the Christmas tree was still shining brightly so Skye had plenty of light to see the  _ massive  _ pile of presents sitting under the tree _. _

She knew that this family would be different than all her other families, that this Christmas would be different than all her other Christmas's, but this was unreal.

Her parents both tugged on her hands and she limply followed behind them to the couch. They sat down and she stayed standing and staring at the tree and all the brightly wrapped gifts underneath it.

"Those… are for us?" She asked as she uncertainly pointed at the presents.

"Yes."

She turned to stare at her parents, "All of them?"

"Yeah."

Eyes wide, she looked back to the tree. She had  _ never _ seen a tree with this many presents underneath it before.

Her siblings scooted closer to the tree but Skye stayed where she was. Her mom gently pushed her forward, "What are you waiting for baby?"

She hesitantly walked forward and sat down by Natasha; she wasn't really sure what to do in this situation.

Nattie handed her a present and she took it and set in on her lap. She looked around and saw that everyone else was opening a present. Trip had handed their mom a card and she was reading it and smiling while Pietro and Wanda were laughing and yanking the paper off of each other's presents. Natasha and her dad were both studying at her.

She looked down at her present and her fingers itched to tear into the prettily wrapped gift. 

"Can I open it?" She asked her dad.

He nodded and she smiled happily.

She made sure to read the tag on it to see who it was from and saw that it was a gift from Santa. She ripped into the shiny wrapping paper and gasped in excitement when she saw an American Girl doll that looked just like her. It had brown hair and eyes and was even wearing little black combat boots that looked like her favorite pair.

Holding the boxed doll close to her chest, she over to her parents, "Look what Santa brought me!"

She waved the doll in their faces and they both smiled at her. Her mom reached forward to brush her bangs out of her eyes, "It looks like Santa knew just what to get you."

She nodded and wiggled herself in between both of her parents on the couch. They gave her confused looks but her dad wrapped an arm around her when she leaned into him.

"Don't you want to open the rest of your gifts?" Her mom asked.

She raised her eyebrows hopefully, "More? I have more presents?"

Her dad rubbed his hand down her arm, "Well yeah. I think Santa got you a few more things and then you have some gifts from all of us."

She started squirming excitedly in her seat, "Really?"

Her mom laughed, "Really."

She hopped off of the couch and ran back towards the tree. Halfway there, she turned back around, "I can open them now, right?"

Her parents laughed and nodded at her. She let out an excited laugh and sat back down by Natasha. The redhead handed her another gift and she tore into it.

It took them a little while to get through everyone's gifts and by the time they were finished, everyone was showing each other what they had gotten.

Her mom was collecting tissue paper, empty gift bags, and wrapping paper and looked around when she was done, "Is that all of them?"

Skye suddenly stood up and held out a hand, "Wait!"

She ran up to her room and grabbed what she needed before running back downstairs. After launching herself back onto the couch next to her dad, she handed him her present before motioning her mom forward and handing her her gift.

Her dad opened his first and smiled.

In class, they had chosen one of their favorite people and were supposed to write about why they loved them so much. She had chosen her dad and Ms. Hill had helped her write about why she loved him and had given her special glitter glue so that she could decorate it.

She anxiously waited while he read through what she had written about him. She  _ really  _ wanted him to like it and the longer it took for him to react, the more she bit her bottom lip in anxiety.

Finally, he looked up from her present and pulled her in for a hug, "This is amazing Skye, I love it so much. Thank you sweetheart."

She let out a relieved breath and hugged him back tightly.

"What does it say?" Nattie asked.

She pulled away from him and he handed his present back to her, "Why don't you read it?"

She gripped the paper and shyly read from it, "My daddy is my favorite person in the world because I love him and he loves me. He keeps me safe and gives me Spongebob bandaids when I get hurt. He taught me how to ride a bicycle and we both make breakfast together all the time and it's really fun. I love spending time with him and I'm happy that he is my daddy."

Her chest filled with pride because she  _ knew _ that all the words were spelled right because Ms. Hill had helped her.

Her dad pulled her in for another hug, took his present back from her, and held it gingerly to his chest. She was really happy that he liked it.

"Is it my turn?" Her mom asked?

Skye nodded and crawled over to where she had sat down on the other end of the couch. She climbed into her mom's lap and watched her open her gift in front of them.

She opened the tiny jewelry box and nervously waited for her mom to say something. It was quiet for a couple of seconds so Skye started to ramble anxiously, "Daddy helped me pick it out, it's okay if you don't-"

Her mom hastily cut her off, "No! No, I love it. It's beautiful and perfect and I love it."

Skye smiled brightly and let out a sigh of relief. She stared down at the pretty silver locket and saw her mom's fingers brush over the intricate rose design on the front. Her mom opened up the locket and Skye leaned forward so that she could point to the pictures inside, "That's a picture of me and you and that's a picture of me and Daddy so that we'll both be with you wherever you go."

It had taken awhile to find the right pictures and fix them so that they were small enough to fit into the tiny locket but Skye thought that they turned out very nicely. The picture of her and her mom was one that her dad had randomly taken of the two of them. Skye's front tooth was missing and their faces were pressed closely together and they were both smiling. The picture of her and her dad had been the one where he was wearing a tiara and she was wearing her Captain America outfit. They were both making silly faces, he was sticking out his tongue and she was crossing her eyes, and you could see their teacups from their tea party on the table behind. 

She looked to see her mom's reaction and saw that her eyes looked watery.

Turning around in her mom’s lap, she put a hand on her cheek, but her mom shook her head and laughed, "I love it sweetie, thank you. Can you put it on me?"

Skye nodded and clasped the necklace around her neck before both of them admired it. Skye tilted her head and smiled, "I like it on you."

"Me too,” Her mom whispered, leaning in to press a kiss to her forehead.

Everyone else came over and admired her new piece of jewelry and they all thanked each other for the gifts that were given and received.

She felt unbearably happy. Actually she felt  _ more _ than happy and it wasn't just because of the presents, it was because her whole family was here together and everyone was content to just sit by one another and laugh and enjoy each other's company. It was great and Skye wanted this to last forever.

Her dad stood up and clapped his hands, "Chocolate chip pancakes?"

Everyone else stood up quickly and Skye nodded eagerly, "Yes!"

"Let's go."


	10. Skye Has a Crush on Bucky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Skye has a crush on Bucky

_ Bucky was cute, _ Skye thought to herself.

He had pretty eyes and he was always really nice to her when he came over, so she didn't question herself when she caught herself staring at him.

Nattie had gone downstairs to grab some food, so she was coloring in the playroom with Bucky. They were both lying on their stomachs and Skye had abandoned her drawing in favor of staring at him.

She sat up and blew her bangs out of her eyes, "Bucky?"

He looked up and smiled at her, "Yeah?"

"Do you like me?" She asked, grabbing onto her moon pendant. 

He laughed, "Yeah, you're pretty cool Princess."

She smiled and nodded to herself, noting that that was a good thing, "Can you be my boyfriend?"

Bucky's eyes widened and he sat up and she grinned at him and tilted her head questioningly.

He was silent for a couple of seconds before rubbing the back of his neck and saying, "Well, don't you think you're a little too young for a boyfriend?"

She didn't know when it was an acceptable time to start dating but she didn't think that six was too young.

Confidently, she shook her head, "No, we're already friends, right?"

"Well yeah, but-"

Skye cut him off, "What's the difference then?"

He was silent for a few moments and then, "Skye, I'm very honored that you want me to be your boyfriend but I don't think that we would work out, as a couple I mean."

"Why not?" She asked, scrunching up her nose in confusion.

"Well, we have a different set of friends and we have different hobbies and you're about ten years younger than I am."

She pondered that as she rubbed her moon pendant between her fingers. He had a point.

"Oh."

Bucky gave her a crooked smile and handed her a blue crayon, "Besides, you're too good for me anyways."

She took the crayon from him and laughed, her short-lived crush already forgotten, " _ You  _ would be too good for  _ me _ ."

He shook his head and poked her tummy, "Nuh-uh Princess, you're too good for me. I mean, you have a whole playground in your backyard. Who could compete with that?"

She thought about that and tugged on his hand, "Let's go play on it!"

They both stood up and she held onto his prosthetic hand. He looked down at her, "Alright, you have to push me on the swing though."

"Not if I beat you to it!"

She started sprinting down the hallway and heard Bucky shout after her, "Hey! You little cheater!"


	11. Wanda and Pietro Find Out About Skye Being Kidnapped

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place during You Can Trust Me!

Wanda let her head fall down and land on top of her textbook, which was perched on of her desk along with her notes and laptop.

She loved studying abroad but sometimes she wondered if the stress of it all was worth it. About two seconds after this thought would cross her mind, she would  _ always _ tell herself that, yes, of course it was worth it.

She and her brother both knew what they were getting themselves into when they applied to this program. They knew that it wasn't like some of the other study abroad programs that their university offered, the ones where the kids took one or two classes and spent the rest of their time partying in foreign countries.  _ Their  _ program was rigorous and demanding and she loved every second of it. She knew Pietro felt the same way.

Picking up her head up, she rubbed the spot where her forehead had connected with her textbook. She glanced at the clock and wasn't surprised to see how late it was; her roommate was already asleep and had been for a couple of hours.

Pre-med was kicking her ass and while she was learning a lot at all of these prestigious European universities, it was hard to keep all of the information that was being thrown at her crammed into her brain. That was why she had resorted to staying up way later than she normally would to go over her notes each night. It was helping her tremendously but her sleep schedule was suffering because of it.

Deciding to call it a night, she put away her highlighters and closed her books before stretching. She quietly made her way over to her bed, checked her phone for any messages, and snuggled into her blankets when she found none.

She sighed and pulled the covers up and under her chin, wiggled around until she was comfortable, and felt herself slowly creep towards the edge of unconsciousness.

Right as she was about to fall asleep, her phone started to vibrate.

She groaned and let it go to voicemail. Her phone was sitting on her bedside table and in order to get it, she would have to roll over and reach for it, and she was  _ way _ too comfortable and tired to do that right now. Her phone stopped vibrating and she let out a breath. She felt herself slowly start to fall asleep when her phone started to go off again.

Angrily, she threw her blankets off of her and grabbed her phone off of her bedside table. She checked the caller i.d. and saw that it was her mom who was interrupting her precious and limited time for sleeping.

With a sigh, she glanced at her sleeping roommate before tiptoeing out of the room and into the hall. She squinted at the brightness in the hallway and answered her phone, "Hello?"

Even she could hear how tired she sounded.

"Wanda? I tried to call Pietro but he didn't answer."

Her mom's voice sounded strained but she put that off to having a new child to look after. She had only talked  _ to  _ Skye once, but she had talked to her family  _ about _ Skye numerous times. From what she had heard, Skye was a sweetheart but was still healing from her past experiences in different foster homes and she assumed that that was why her mother sounded like she was teetering on the edge right now. After growing up a bit, she could appreciate how much time and effort her parents had put into raising her and Pietro, and they hadn’t made it easy on them.

She breathed out a sarcastic laugh, "Yeah, he was probably sleeping, which was coincidentally what I was trying to do."

Her family sometimes forgot that they were in totally separate time zones so when they would call in the middle of the night, she would remind them of that and they would apologize and she would call them the next morning. She was waiting for her mom to say something along the lines of forgetting about their time difference but that never came.

Her mom didn't say anything and she felt herself start to worry, "I was just joking, is everything alright?"

She thought she heard her mom sniffle but she didn't know for sure. It could have been their cell service.

The silence on the other end of the line caused anxiety to coil tightly in her chest, "Mom?"

Finally her mom spoke up, but Wanda kind of wished that she had stayed silent when she heard, "It's Skye. She's missing."

She pulled her phone away from her ear and stared at it for a second, somewhat expecting someone to pop out and shout, “Gotcha!” because this could not be real. Just to be absolutely certain, she pinched her arm and hoped that that would actually work and wake her up from this dream.

It didn't work.

She put her phone back to her ear and shakily asked, "What do you mean?"

She could hear voices in the background of wherever her mom was and strained to hear her voice when she said, "She was at school and something happened and now she's missing. We're at the police station right now but they don't  _ know _ anything."

"Oh my god,” She said in disbelief as she leaned against the wall for support.

"We'll keep you updated but these idiots don't know a damn thing."

She rubbed her forehead, "Mom, we can come home. I'm sure there's a flight-"

Her mom cut her off, "Don't be silly. I'm sure by the time you got to the airport they'll have found Skye in an empty classroom or something."

It was painfully obvious that her mom was trying to convince herself that this was the case and Wanda hoped that it was true.

"Okay, I guess-" Before she could finish speaking, her mom interrupted her, "Some officers just came in and I think they found something. We'll keep you updated. I've got to go, I love you."

Before she could respond, her mom hung up and the line went dead.

She stared at her phone again and let out a breath of disbelief. Was this really happening? Skye was missing? It felt surreal, like the fact that her little sister wasn't with her family hadn't hit her yet.

Wanda shook her head and considered her options. She  _ could _ just stay here and wait for someone in her family to call and tell her what was happening. As she thought about that, she glared at the wall and knew that that option wasn’t plausible for her. It would make her feel helpless sitting by her phone, not knowing anything that was going on until someone remembered to call her and let her know.

She dismissed that idea and considered a new one. She  _ could _ fly home, be with her family and try to help even though her mother had said that it would probably be pointless. She needed to feel like she was being useful or that she was at least doing  _ something _ .

Making up her mind, she walked back into her room, threw on some clothes, and packed a small bag. She made sure to grab her passport and wallet before running off to Pietro's room. Before she knew it, she was out of breath and banging on his door. A guy walking down the hallway was giving her a strange look, she’s sure she looked slightly hysterical, but she ignored him.

Pietro opened the door and gave her a dirty look. His hair was messy and she could tell that she had woken him up, "You know I have a class in like three hours right?"

She shoved past him and into his room. A glance at his roommate's bed told her that he wasn’t there, so she didn't feel  _ too _ bad for barging in here. She grabbed a duffel bag from under his bed and started shoving clothes into it, "Please tell me you know where your passport is."

As he dazedly walked towards her, she reached towards his phone and shoved it and it's charger into the bag. He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed, "What?"

She moved around his room, grabbing things and shoving them into his bag until it was full and she could hardly zip it up, "We need to go home."

He stood in front of her and put both hands on her shoulders to get her to stop for a moment. He turned her so that she was looking at him and gave her a confused look, "Take a breath and explain that sentence."

She breathed in slowly and let it out, "Okay, sorry. Mom called and… and she said that Skye was missing."

He stared at her for a couple of seconds before moving away from her, grabbing something out of his desk drawer, and tugging on her hand, "Let's go."

Pietro  grabbed her phone from where it was clutched between her fingers and called someone. He hung up, gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, and led her through the hallways of his residence hall.

They walked outside and she looked around, stumped about what to do next. This was as far ahead as she thought in her plan and she had no idea what to do next.

Letting out a frustrated breath, she said, "What are we doing? We have no way to get to the airport, we're in the middle of our semester, and our little sister is missing."

She cradled her head in her hands and felt Pietro rub soothing circles on her back, "It'll be okay sis."

She shook her head and looked up at him, "How do you know that? Skye is  _ missing _ and we can't do anything about it."

He pulled her in for a hug and she wrapped her arms around his back. He traced her name on her back with his fingers and she traced his name on his in an attempt to calm down. It was something that they had done since they were children, something that allowed them to forget about the craziness that was going on around them and on the fact that they still had each other to get them through the bad days.

As some of her anxiousness dissipated, she let out a deep breath and her brother pulled back and looked at her, "I know it'll be okay because I have a plan."

She raised an eyebrow, "It's been like two minutes, how do you already have a plan?"

"I'm just that good."

Their banter helped the rest of her anxiousness disappear. She felt herself edge away from the panic that was swirling around inside of her and started to feel more stable, "Let's hear it then."

He took a step back and looked around, "I already called a cab and it should be here any minute. We'll take the first flight home when we get to the airport and can be there in like, half a day. We'll call our advisors and explain what's going on and they'll understand. If not, it's just school. Family's more important anyways."

Pietro sounded so sure of his plan that she found herself nodding along with what he was saying, "Right, you're right."

"Of course I am,” He said as he put a reassuring arm around her shoulder.

She poked his side and saw a taxi come to a stop in front of them. Her brother grabbed her bag from her shoulder and pressed a kiss to the side of her head, "It'll be okay Wanda. Let's go."

She followed him into the backseat of the taxi, called their advisors to explain what was going on, and fidgeted around until they reached the nearest airport. They both hassled an airport employee until he found them two seats on the next flight home and she fell asleep on Pietro's shoulder waiting for their plane to arrive.

When her brother shook her awake, she checked her phone for any messages and let out a groan of frustration when there were none, "Has anyone called you?"

He led her to the line that was waiting to board the plane, "No."

Tears started to well up in her eyes and she told herself to get it together, "She's so little Pietro, you saw how tiny she is. She can't be all on her own."

Her brother grabbed onto her hand and gave it a squeeze, "She'll be okay. And before you ask how I know that, I just do."

She nodded and tried to push aside the feeling of helplessness that had taken root inside of her ever since her mom had called her earlier that night. She held onto her brother's hand like a lifeline and they found their seats on the plane.

The flight home was terrible.

She was trapped in a plane with nothing to do but think about all of the things that could be happening back at home. Pietro tried his best to keep her mind off of what was happening but it didn't work that well. No matter how unaffected Pietro tried to appear to be for her sake, she could see the worry in his eyes and saw how tensely he held himself. He was anxious too.

They  _ finally _ landed and she checked her phone again; there were no new messages and she felt like throwing her phone against the wall. They ran out of the airport and grabbed one of the taxi's that was waiting by the curbside. When they threw themselves into the backseat, the driver looked back at them and asked, "Where to?"

She glanced at her brother, "Should we go home? What if they're at the police station or something?"

Pietro thought about that and then shook his head, "Let's try home first."

She nodded and gave the driver their address. As they drove away, she shook her leg up and down, a nervous habit, and her brother gave her a look. She made a conscious effort to stop, "Sorry, can't help it."

He nodded, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and let her lean into his side.

She took a breath and watched the buildings pass them by out the window, "She'll be okay. She has to be."

"She'll be okay."

They stayed like that for the remainder of the car ride, silently comforting each other. When they pulled up to their house, Wanda opened her wallet and let the driver swipe her credit card, she hadn't exchanged her currency yet, before following Pietro out of the car.

"They're here,” He stated pointlessly, she could see the cars in the driveway.

She gave him a hopeful look, "Maybe they found her already?"

He led her up the stairs and onto the porch before loudly hitting his knuckles against the door, "We can be mad at them for not calling us later."

She nodded and straightened up when the door opened and revealed her dad. His mouth hung open in shock, "What the… what are you guys doing here? You're supposed to be in Spain!"


End file.
